The deputies of the National Assembly – controlled by the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo – approved with 91 votes in favor, zero against and zero abstentions, the reforms to Law 761, General Law of Migration and Immigration; and addition to Law 641, Penal Code of Nicaragua, sent by the Executive on November 26.
The approved reform legalizes the banishments and denationalizations that the Ortega-Murillo regime has been imposing since 2021. In addition, it authorizes the criminalization of those who wish to go into exile or return to the country due to “blind spots.”
In the reform of Law 761, from the first article, the dictator Ortega directed to write that it is “a sovereign decision of the State of Nicaragua, through the General Directorate of Migration and Immigration, authorize or deny entry, revoke permanence, cancel residency or acquired Nicaraguan nationality».
In addition, the reform gives the General Directorate of Migration and Immigration the power to “ddeny entry into the country of people who may undermine national sovereignty or represent a social risk».
In article 47, now with the reforms, the loss of nationality is authorized, although previously this article stated that “no national can be deprived of his nationality.” Now, nationality can be lost “for the reasons established in the Political Constitution and laws on the matter”, legislation that has also been recently modified by the dictator Ortega, who claims the right to remove nationality if he considers that a Nicaraguan has “undermined or betrayed” national integrity, charges for which hundreds of opponents have been imprisoned.
Those who “directly or indirectly participate, promote, direct, incite, attack, finance, manage internal or foreign actions that undermine the preservation of sovereignty, independence, order, may also lose nationality, according to the reform, in article 64. internal, territorial integrity and national self-determination; and any other that contravenes the legal system of Nicaragua.
Jail and fine for entry and exit due to “blind spots”
The approved reforms also propose additions to article 138 of the Nicaraguan Penal Code, which include the persecution of those who try to leave Nicaragua and avoid persecution by the Sandinista regime. Now, anyone who evades border control may be considered a crime and in the opinion of the Ortega authorities they have the aim of undermining and compromising peace.
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The amendment to article 138 of the Penal Code of Nicaragua will read: “the crime of evasion of border control is committed by anyone who enters, leaves or intends to leave the national territory in a non-regular manner, evading immigration controls at border posts or at any point not enabled for the purposes of undermining the integrity of the nation, compromising peace, altering the constitutional order, promoting or provoking, proposing, conspiring and inducing terrorist acts or economic destabilization and social of the country.
The penalty will be up to a third greater if anyone who tries to leave Nicaragua through non-authorized points does so “for purposes of treason,” with which Ortega reveals his viciousness against those who the regime suspects of intending to defect from the dictatorship.
Additionally, the reform to the General Immigration and Immigration Law establishes a fine of $1,000, applicable to nationals and foreigners who enter the country “evading border control.”
