The government of Nicaragua announced this Saturday the release of “dozens” of imprisoned opponents and critics, under pressure from the United States and a week after the overthrow of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, its close ally. The U.S. Embassy in Managua said Friday that while Venezuela has freed “a large number of political prisoners,” in Nicaragua “more than 60 people” remained “unjustly detained or disappeared.”
On Saturday, the Nicaraguan government announced on the official site 19digital that “dozens” of prisoners “returned to their homes and families,” as “19 years” are commemorated since Daniel Ortega came to power. NGOs and Nicaraguan media outlets operating from exile in Costa Rica and the United States said those freed number between 20 and 30, and that among them are opposition activists and social leaders critical of the government.
Ortega and his wife, Rosario Murillo, govern Nicaragua as co-presidents with absolute power and are unwavering supporters of Maduro, who was captured by U.S. military personnel in Caracas and taken to New York to face trial on drug trafficking and other charges. All “must be released without exception”
In photographs and videos circulated by pro-government media, several detainees can be seen hugging relatives who were summoned to receive them. Others show their release documents. “This activity is a symbol of our unwavering commitment to reconciliation, peace, and the right of all to a family and community life that is respectful and tranquil,” the Nicaraguan government note said, without identifying those released or the reasons or circumstances of their detention.
The Mechanism for the Recognition of Political Prisoners, which also operates from exile, had counted 62 detainees in Nicaragua as of last December. But on Friday, the NGO Monitoreo Azul y Blanco and exile press outlets reported that at least 61 people have been detained in Nicaragua for celebrating or expressing support on social media for Maduro’s capture.
In a statement, the Mechanism welcomed the release this Saturday of about twenty political prisoners, but called as well for the release of those detained since January 3 over statements about Venezuela. “I celebrate with joy and solidarity the release of part of the political prisoners from the prisons of the dictatorship in Nicaragua, where they never should have been. All those remaining must be freed without exception,” wrote the celebrated Nicaraguan writer Sergio Ramírez, exiled in Spain.
“Illegitimate and lifelong dynasty” In a message, the U.S. State Department’s Office of Western Hemisphere Affairs said that the “brutal Murillo-Ortega dictatorship” should have been a five-year government. “Nicaraguans voted for a president in 2006, not for an illegitimate lifelong dynasty. Rewriting the Constitution and crushing dissent will not erase Nicaraguans’ aspirations to live free from tyranny,” it said.
“This is a victory of persistence in the face of oppression,” reacted the exiled platform Gran Confederación Opositora Nicaragüense. Ortega, 80, and Murillo, 74, wield absolute power in Nicaragua, curtailed freedoms and crushed the opposition after the 2018 protests that left 300 dead, which they described as a coup attempt sponsored by Washington.
Tens of thousands of Nicaraguans were forced into exile, hundreds were detained and their properties expropriated. The government even stripped many of their Nicaraguan nationality. A group of UN experts has demanded that Ortega and Murillo be held accountable for “serious” human rights violations, including “crimes against humanity.”
According to opposition reports, Ortega faces health problems, prompting Murillo to carry out an internal purge to ensure succession.
