The poet and novelist Gioconda Belli responded with fragments of his poem “Nicaragua” to the Government of Daniel Ortegawho this Wednesday has withdrawn his nationality along with 93 other people, according to a report from the agency efe.
“I love you homeland of my dreams and my sorrows”, “stripped of how much moth eats you”, are some of the verses published this Thursday from Twitter.
(From my poem Nicaragua)
I pull your hair out of those who sell you, they steal and abuse you
I tell you stories in the corner of my pillow
I wrap you up and cover your eyes
so you don’t see the executioners who come to cut off your head.@ReportNi— Gioconda Belli (@GiocondaBelliP) February 16, 2023
“I say words since they are the mortar of my life and at the point of words I imagine you again and again reborn great, stripped of all the moths that corrode your foundations day by day”, he continues.
Next to Gioconda Belli (Managua, 1948), the writer Sergio Ramírez, also exiled in Spain, the auxiliary bishop of Managua, Silvio Báez, and the former commander of the revolution in his country, Luis Carrión, were also stripped of their nationality.
Veteran human rights defender Vilma Núñez, former foreign minister Norman Caldera, former Sandinista magistrate Rafael Solís, former OAS ambassador Arturo McFields, and journalist Carlos Fernando Chamorro are others accused by a court of crimes considered “treason.” for which their nationality was withdrawn.
In the last week, according to the Spanish agency, 317 Nicaraguans were stripped of their nationality, including Bishop Rolando Álvarez, sentenced to more than 26 years in prison after refusing to be exiled along with 222 political prisoners released and expelled to the United States on 9 February.
The Court of Appeals of Managua also ordered the confiscation in favor of the State of the assets of the defendants, who were disqualified from holding public office, lost their citizenship rights in perpetuity and were declared fugitives.
Nicaraguan government frees and deports more than 200 opponents
Nicaragua has been going through a political and social crisis since 2018 that has worsened after the controversial general elections of 2021.
So, Ortega was re-elected for a fifth term, fourth in a row and second with his wife, Rosario Murillo, who is the vice president. The main contenders are in prison or in exile.
