Eduardo González
The Ministry of Justice has granted Spanish nationality to the Nicaraguan businessman Álvaro Javier Vargas Duarte, imprisoned in October 2021 by the Government of Daniel Ortega for money laundering and for attacking national sovereignty and who was included in February 2022 on the list. of opponents who were expelled to the United States and stripped of their citizenship by the Daniel Ortega regime.
At the proposal of the Minister of the Presidency, Justice and Relations with the Cortes, Félix Bolaños, the Council of Ministers granted Spanish nationality by letter of nature to Álvaro Vargas this past Tuesday. Nationality by letter of nature is an exceptional procedure and much faster than the usual channels and allows these people to avoid prolonging their stateless status for a long time.
Álvaro Javier Vargas Duarte, first vice president of the Superior Council of Private Enterprise (COSEP) and president of the Union of Agricultural Producers of Nicaragua (Upanic), was arrested on October 21, 2021 along with fellow businessman Michael Healy under the accusations of “ laundering of money, goods and assets, to the detriment of the State and Nicaraguan society” and “acts that undermine independence, sovereignty and self-determination”, specifically by inciting foreign interference and proposing economic blockades.
Shortly after his capture, the COSEP denounced in a statement that “these repressive actions of the Government show a direct attack on the Superior Council of Private Enterprise and its main leaders (…), they violate the fundamental rights established in the Political Constitution of Nicaragua and They must stop immediately”. “The people of Nicaragua continue to suffer the attack on institutions and the rule of law, created to restrict freedom of thought, the right of association and participation in organized society, rights violated in our Political Constitution. “No more repression!” the text concluded.
In June 2022, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IDC) ordered the “immediate release” of nine political prisoners in Nicaragua, including Álvaro Vargas, and denounced the “harassment” of the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo against those who “express themselves in opposition to the policies of the current government of Nicaragua, which has been exacerbated by the elections that took place in November 2021.”
Finally, Álvaro Vargas was among the 222 opponents (diplomats, former state officials, human rights defenders, Sandinista dissidents, opponents, journalists, academics, students, businessmen and merchants) who on February 9, 2023 were deported to the United States and stripped of their nationality by decision of the Government. After learning of the decision of the Ortega regime, the Government of Pedro Sánchez offered to grant Spanish nationality to those declared “stateless” by the Nicaraguan regime. The aforementioned Michael Healy, arrested on the same day as Álvaro Vargas, obtained Spanish nationality by nature letter in July 2023.
On February 16, 2023, Daniel Ortega decreed the withdrawal of nationality and the seizure of his assets from 94 other opponents for the same reasons. The day after this decision by Ortega, 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 “stateless” of the regime.
Since then, Spain has granted nationality to more than a hundred Nicaraguan citizens who had been stripped of their citizenship by Daniel Ortega’s regime and expelled from the country. Among the beneficiaries are diplomats, former state officials, human rights defenders, Sandinista dissidents, opponents, journalists, academics, students, businessmen and merchants, and such important figures as Cristiana Chamorro, presidential candidate in the 2021 elections; journalist Carlos Fernando Chamorro Barrios, founder of the local newspaper Confidencial and son of former president Violeta Chamorro; the sociologist Gertrudis Guerrero, wife of the exiled Nicaraguan writer Sergio Ramírez; or the writer Gioconda Belli.
