Eduardo González
Yesterday, the Government granted Spanish nationality to a third group of 18 Nicaraguan opponents expelled and stripped of their nationality by the regime of Daniel Ortega, bringing to 46 the number of beneficiaries of this measure so far this month.
The nationality to the 18 opponents was granted this past Monday by the Council of Ministers at the proposal of the Minister of Justice, Pilar Llop, by letter of nature, an exceptional and much faster procedure than the usual channels which prevents these people from prolonging their stateless situation for a long time.
According to the list, published yesterday in the Official State Gazette (BOE), the beneficiaries of this measure are the political commentator Jaime José Arellano Arana, the ex-political prisoner Jesús Adolfo Tefel, member of the opposition National Blue and White Unity (UNAB); José Alejandro Quintanilla, also from UNAB; and Joao Ismael Maldonado Bermúdez, barricaded during the citizen protests in 2018, exiled and victim of an attack at the end of 2021 in Costa Rica (and son of a military man also released from political prison, now deceased).
The list also includes Juan Carlos Gutiérrez Soto, former member of the Civic Alliance and member of the UNDP office in Nicaragua; Juan Enrique Sáenz Navarrete, economist and former opposition deputy; Julio César López Campos, lawyer and husband of human rights defender Mónica Baltodano, both exiled without the right to renew their Nicaraguan passport by orders of the regime; José Antonio Peraza Collado, political scientist; José Javier Álvarez Argüello, expelled to the US under the accusation of “conspiracy” and with serious health problems after spending time in prison; and Josué Santiago Álvarez Rojas, imprisoned by the regime under accusation of terrorism.
Also among the new Spanish citizens are priests Jorge Leonel Mairena, Juan Francisco Zeledón Montenegro and Mangel José Hernández Rivera, political prisoner Lester José Selva, Luciano Rafael García Mejía, former opposition councilman and former president of the organization Hagamos Democracia; José Adán Aguerri Chamorro, former president of the Superior Council of Private Enterprise (Cosep); Luis Alberto Rivas Anduray, former executive president of the Nicaraguan entity Banco de la Producción (Banpro); and Luis Fernando Carrión Cruz, former Sandinista commander in the eighties and member of the opposition Unión Democrática Renovadora.
This new group joins the 28 Nicaraguans who have obtained Spanish nationality during the month of May. On May 11, the Government approved the nationalization of fourteen Nicaraguans, including sociologist Gertrudis Guerrero, wife of exiled Nicaraguan writer Sergio Ramirez, who already had Spanish nationality. Also appearing in that first group were journalist Cristiana Chamorro, presidential pre-candidate who in the 2021 elections appeared as the most likely candidate to defeat Ortega; and journalist Carlos Fernando Chamorro Barrios, founder of the local media Confidencial and son of former president Violeta Chamorro. On May 24, the list was extended with fourteen other Nicaraguans, among them Desirée Elizondo Cabrera, wife of Carlos Fernando Chamorro.
On February 9, the Ortega regime expelled 222 opponents (diplomats, former state officials, human rights defenders, Sandinista dissidents, opposition members, journalists, academics, students, businessmen and traders) accused of treason from the country to the USA and stripped them of their nationality. After learning of the Ortega regime’s decision, the government of Pedro Sánchez offered to grant Spanish nationality to those declared “stateless” by the Nicaraguan regime.
On February 16, Daniel Ortega decreed the withdrawal of the nationality and the seizure of the assets of another 94 opponents for the same reasons. The day after Ortega’s decision, the Spanish government extended its offer to this second group of 94 Nicaraguans. In addition to Spain, the governments of Chile, Colombia, Brazil and Mexico have also offered nationality to the regime’s “stateless persons”.
