The government of Nicaragua released “dozens” of people after the United States embassy in Managua advocated for the release of political prisoners, according to an official statement released this Saturday.
The Washington diplomatic mission in Managua He assured on Friday in a message on the social network
On the official website 19 digital, the Nicaraguan government announced that “to commemorate 19 years” of Daniel Ortega in power, “dozens of people who were in the national prison system returned to their homes and families.”
In photographs and videos broadcast by the official media, several detainees can be seen they sign their release papers in front of police officers, and hugging relatives who were summoned to receive them after being released from prison.
“This activity is a symbol of our invariable commitment to encounter, peace and everyone’s right to respectful and peaceful family and community coexistence,” stated the note from the Nicaraguan government.
In their brief message, the Nicaraguan authorities did not identify those released or the reasons or circumstances of their detention.
“Brutal dictatorship”
An NGO and the press in exile reported on Friday that at least 61 people have been detained in Nicaragua for celebrating or expressing their support on social networks for the capture of the ousted Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro.
The spouses and co-presidents of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murilloare unconditional allies of Maduro, captured by the US military in Caracas a week ago and taken to New York to face trial for drug trafficking and other charges.
It is unknown if among those released there are detainees for this reason.
In a message in United States Office of Western Hemisphere Affairsassured that “the brutal Murillo-Ortega dictatorship” should have been a five-year government.
“Nicaraguans voted for a president in 2006, not for an illegitimate dynasty for life. Rewriting the Constitution and crushing dissent will not erase the aspirations of Nicaraguans to live free from tyranny,” he said.
Ortega, 80, and Murillo, 74, They hold absolute power In Nicaragua, they cut freedoms and annihilated the opposition after the 2018 protests that left 300 dead, considered by them an attempted coup d’état sponsored by Washington.
Tens of thousands of Nicaraguans were forced into exile, hundreds were detained and their property expropriated, and the government even stripped many of their Nicaraguan nationality.
A group of UN experts has demanded that the Ortega and Murillo government answer for “serious violations” of human rightsincluding “crimes against humanity.”
According to opposition reports, Ortega is facing health problems, so Murillo has carried out an internal purge to guarantee the succession.
