Nicaragua expels human rights activists

MANAGUA, Nicaragua – Nicaragua on Friday expelled two human rights activists allegedly without justification as they tried to enter the country, according to the human rights organizations involved, which demanded an explanation.

Peruvian Luis Carlos Bour and Spanish citizen Marta González were denied entry into the country at Augusto César Sandino International Airport by immigration officials who demanded that they return to the plane, according to the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (CENIDH), in Managua.

The Immigration Office’s spokeswoman, Magda Pineda, said that she would find out what had happened but did not initially offer an official version of the incidents.

Boub and González, who were forced to travel to Costa Rica, are members of the nongovernmental Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL), an international human rights organization.

“It was a deportation. Boub was assaulted by immigration officials and they threatened to handcuff him, took his mobile phone, and together with González they were taken back to the boarding area,” said CENIDH spokeswoman Adelaide Moncada.

Related: Journalists harassed, detained in latest chapter of Nicaragua canal saga

“This is an outrage against two human rights advocates who came to celebrate CENIDH’s 25th anniversary. The government needs to offer an explanation and apologize,” demanded CENIDH Director Mauro Ampié.

CEJIL denounced the incident as an “arbitrary injustice” and also demanded that the Nicaraguan government offer a “public apology and an investigation of the facts.”

CENIDH criticized President Daniel Ortega’s government and mentioned that Boub worked with Nicaraguan civic organizations during the 154th period of sessions of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

During this forum Nicaraguan organizations denounced the government for human rights violations related to the interoceanic canal that has resulted in protests led by residents of the canal’s projected route between the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean, Ampié said.

See also: Will the Nicaragua Canal ruin the ‘Galapagos of Central America’?