Eduardo González
The Spanish Government last week granted Spanish nationality to another 17 Nicaraguans, in this case to relatives of opponents who were expelled and stripped of their citizenship by Daniel Ortega's regime, bringing the number of people benefited by this measure to 133, including May 2023 and July 2024.
At the proposal of the Minister of the Presidency, Justice and Relations with the Cortes, Félix Bolaños, the Council of Ministers granted these 17 people Spanish nationality by letter of nature last Tuesday, an exceptional procedure that is much faster than the usual channels and that prevents their statelessness from being prolonged for a long time.
On February 9, 2023, the Government of Managua expelled 222 opponents (diplomats, former state officials, human rights defenders, Sandinista dissidents, opponents, journalists, academics, students, businessmen) from the country to the United States and stripped of their nationality. and merchants) accused of treason. 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.
A week later, Daniel Ortega decreed the withdrawal of nationality and the seizure of his assets from 94 other opponents for the same reasons, after which the Spanish Government extended its offer to this second group. In addition to Spain, the Governments of Chile, Colombia, Brazil and Mexico have also offered nationality to the “stateless” of the regime.
Among the 133 nationalized by Spain 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.
The beneficiaries, on this occasion, are fundamentally relatives of opponents retaliated by the regime of President Daniel Ortega and Vice President Rosario Murillo. Among these people appears (according to the Official State Gazette and detailed in the newspaper 'Confidencial') María Germania Carrión Soto, wife of the formerly imprisoned politician and former president of the Superior Council of Private Enterprise (Cosep) José Adán Aguerri.
Also on the list are Victoria Cárdenas, wife of Juan Sebastián Chamorro; César Dubois, husband of former political prisoner Suyen Barahona; and Rossana Argüello Vivas, widow of the former president of the Superior Council of Private Enterprise (Cosep) Michael Healy.
The rest of the beneficiaries are Carlos Andrés Valencia González, Bielka Sujey Moncada González, Fátima Rebeca Martínez Vanegas, Haydée María Lacayo Rodríguez, Karen Paola Galo Escorcia, María Caridad González Chamorro, María Elena Bendaña Jarquín, Nelly Margarita Harding Zamora, Rosario María Mendieta López, Thelma Ligia Aragón Espinoza, Violeta Esperanza Otero Rosales, Silvio Policarpio Gutiérrez Baca and Nora María Fátima Mayorga Argüello.
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