The US State Department responded Tuesday to weekend statements of President Daniel Ortega, who offered to send him more political prisoners, as he did at the beginning of February with 222 opponents that they were welcomed by Washington, noting that “instead of forcing their opponents into exile, they should cease their persecution against them.”
A spokesman for the US Foreign Ministry said after a consultation carried out by the voice of america that “Nicaraguans deserve to live in their own country and enjoy democratic freedoms.”
“These prisoners must be released without conditions; the Ortega-Murillo regime has no right to expel them or strip them of their nationality,” the spokesman added to the VOA and stressed that Washington continues “to request the release of political prisoners in Nicaragua as a first step towards the restoration of democracy and respect for human rights.
New arrests in Nicaragua
Ortega released more than 200 political prisoners at the beginning of February who were received by the United StatesHowever, the State Department stressed that they did not know that the Government of Nicaragua would cancel the citizenship of these opponents and would confiscate their assets in absentia.
“These actions were flagrant violations of the basic human rights of these people,” the official added. “The United States continues to advocate for the unconditional release of all political prisoners in Nicaragua.
On the other hand, on the eve of the fifth anniversary of the beginning of the protests against the Ortega government, the Nicaraguan Police have resumed arrests against their critics.
Opposition organizations report the arrest of twenty more people who have not yet been formally accused, among them the journalist Víctor Ticaywho was arrested after covering an act of Holy Week.
Nicaragua is experiencing a political crisis that this April 18 turns 5 years without an end to this panorama. Ortega has referred to the protests against his government as an “attempted coup,” however this narrative has been rejected by human rights organizations that accuse the president of establishing “a dictatorship.”
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