Eduardo González
The Daniel Ortega regime in Nicaragua has stripped the nationality of 135 political prisoners exiled to Guatemala, according to the Nicaraguan newspaper ‘Confidencial’, close to the opposition.
On September 5, the Supreme Court of Justice announced in a press release that, “based on the Political Constitution, the Penal Code, the Law for the Defense of the Rights of the People to Independence, Sovereignty and Self-determination for Peace and the Special Law that regulates the loss of Nicaraguan Nationality), it ordered “the loss of Nicaraguan nationality to 135 people, convicted of criminal acts that threatened the sovereignty, independence and self-determination of the Nicaraguan people, inciting and promoting violence, hatred, terrorism and economic destabilization, altering peace, security and constitutional order.” The Constitution of Nicaragua establishes that “no national can be deprived of his nationality.”
It also provides for “the confiscation of all the assets of the convicted persons, in order to respond for the severe material and immaterial damages that their criminal activities caused to the population and the country.” The regime has not yet published the official list with the names and surnames of those affected.
Since February 2023, the Ortega regime has released, exiled and ordered the confiscation of approximately 400 prisoners of conscience to the United States, the Vatican and Guatemala.
On February 9, 2023, the Managua government expelled 222 opponents (diplomats, former state officials, human rights defenders, Sandinista dissidents, opponents, journalists, academics, students, businessmen and merchants) accused of treason from the country to the United States and stripped them of their nationality. After learning of the Ortega regime’s decision, the Spanish government of Pedro Sánchez offered to grant Spanish nationality to those declared “stateless” by the Nicaraguan regime.
A week later, Daniel Ortega ordered the withdrawal of nationality and the seizure of the assets of another 94 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” members of the regime.
Between May 2023 and July 2024, the Spanish government granted Spanish nationality by letter of naturalization to 133 Nicaraguans expelled and stripped of their citizenship by the Daniel Ortega regime, including 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; sociologist Gertrudis Guerrero, wife of exiled Nicaraguan writer Sergio Ramírez; and writer Gioconda Belli.
