A military officer sentenced to 50 years in prison for “treason” in Nicaragua has been released at a time when the United States is pressuring the government to free political prisoners, according to Nicaraguan exile media. Retired captain Aníbal Rivas Reed, 61, was convicted last June in a trial his family described as “arbitrary.”
Rivas Reed left prison on Thursday and was taken by prison authorities to his home in the northern city of Matagalpa, the exile-run digital outlet Confidencial reported. He remains “under police supervision,” the newspaper La Prensa added. The outlet Artículo 66 confirmed the release, citing a niece of Rivas Reed. Since his arrest on May 17, 2025, he has been covered by precautionary measures ordered by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
The release comes weeks after the government of co-presidents and spouses Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo, who maintain tight control over Nicaraguan society, freed “dozens” of political prisoners. Last Wednesday, the U.S. ambassador to the OAS, Leandro Rizzuto, told the organization that the releases “may appear to be positive gestures by the dictatorship,” but that “house arrest is not freedom.”
During that session, the OAS said it was “alarmed” by the situation in Nicaragua and urged the country to “put an end to human rights violations.”
