According to the Mechanism for the Recognition of Political Prisoners, the Ortega regime increased the number of political prisoners in recent months. Between December 1, 2022 and January 31, 2023, they went from 235 to 245
Nicaraguan ruler Daniel Ortega released 222 political prisoners early on Thursday, February 9, and exiled them to the United States, according to a video posted on Twitter by Arturo McFields, former Nicaraguan ambassador to the Organization of American States (OAS).
According to McFields, the US State Department confirmed the information. The list of those released is not yet known, who were in different prisons in the country, including people who were detained in the Directorate of Judicial Assistance (DAJ), known as “the new Chipote.”
#LAST MINUTE 222 Nicaraguan political prisoners are released to Washington, State Department sources confirm to me pic.twitter.com/fapgpBlSWn
— Arturo McFields Tinders (@ArturoMcfields) February 9, 2023
Berta Valle, wife of political prisoner Félix Madariaga, confirmed that they were sent on a private flight at 6:30 am from Nicaragua to the United States. The State Department of that country provided them with a number to communicate with their relatives.
The release also included some of the prisoners with a house for jail. They were taken from their homes on Wednesday night, told to dress in good clothes and take their medicines with them, according to what one of the relatives told The Press.
#Update | The political prisoners are transferred on an Omni Air International flight that left Managua at 6:31 am and will arrive at Dulles airport in Washington at 11:33 am, that is, 10:33 am Managua time. https://t.co/gy6hDB70gj
— LA PRENSA Nicaragua (@laprensa) February 9, 2023
The Nicaraguan University Alliance confirmed in a tweet the banishment of Lesther Alemán, Mildred Rayo, Max Jeréz and Miguel Flores. “They were exiled by the Sandinista dictatorship to the United States. We will continue to fight for them to recover their citizenship and all their rights.”
Our friends have been released. They were exiled by the Sandinista dictatorship to the United States. We will continue fighting for them to recover their citizenship and all their rights. #SOSNicaragua pic.twitter.com/3WRhtIMDKp
— AUN (@AUNNicaragua) February 9, 2023
According to the Mechanism for the Recognition of Political Prisoners, the Ortega regime increased the number of political prisoners in recent months. Between December 1, 2022 and January 31, 2023, they went from 235 to 245.
Of the 245 prisoners, 30 are women and 215 are men. Of the total number of prisoners, 61 are in the Directorate of Judicial Assistance, 16 in municipal police stations, 12 at home in jail and 146 in the different centers of the National Penitentiary System.
“It is an update of the information on political prisoners who remain in jails in Nicaragua as a result of the sociopolitical crisis that began in April 2018,” the organization recently said.
*Read also: Court maintained imprisonment against six imprisoned union leaders and activists
On repeated occasions, the international community has asked Daniel Ortega for the release of Nicaraguan political prisoners without any response from the ruler-
Last January, the president of Chile, Gabriel Boric, demanded their release at the summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) held in Argentina.
Boric referred to the “duty that Nicaragua has to move towards the freedom of opposition political prisoners who are still detained in undignified conditions, because only with freedom and dignity can democracy and the well-being of our peoples be strengthened.”
With information from The Press and Nicaragua Investigates
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