The European Union delegation in Nicaragua released a brief message on Christmas Eve and the end of the year. In the letter, the representation of the block of 26 countries expresses solidarity “with all the people in the world who cannot celebrate this Christmas with their family.”
The EU also expresses its desire for peace, prosperity and happiness for the citizens. These words come when the repression in Nicaragua is intensifying, which to date has claimed more than 120,000 exiles and 235 political prisoners, including a bishop, priests, lawyers, human rights defenders, activists and even journalists, who will live these dates under a forced separation.
Related news: Victoria Cárdenas insists that they allow “a call or a letter” for Juan Sebastián Chamorro
This year, relations between Nicaragua and Europe have worsened. At the end of September, Daniel Ortega ordered the expulsion of the EU ambassador in Managua, Bettina Muscheidt, who was declared “persona non grata.”
The official advocated “respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights”, elements that opposition groups affirm that the regime violates.
More than a dozen Nicaraguans have been repatriated this 2022 after perishing in their attempt to reach the United States. Most have died after drowning in the Rio Grande, which divides the border with Mexico and connects with the state of Texas.
The Nicaraguans, who manage to survive, are immediately captured by Migration officials, remain in detention, and when they leave they find themselves helpless and begin their refugee claim process. The reasons for this exodus, never before recorded, are attributed to the political persecution of the Ortega regime or precariousness: the minimal economic conditions force them to migrate.
At the end of October 2022, the United States, through the Customs and Border Control Office, reported the detention of 147,277 Nicaraguans, a historical record for migrants from this country.
According to official figures, at least 853 migrants have died in the last 12 months in their attempt to cross the Mexican border with the United States without documents, making 2022 the deadliest year in history, warn civil organizations based on data from the US Border Patrol.
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At the request of the Nunca Más Nicaragua Human Rights Collective, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) granted precautionary measures in favor of the political prisoner Rodrigo Navarrete and his immediate family, after considering that his rights are in a serious and urgent situation. The beneficiary is the uncle of Jaime Navarrete, also a prisoner of conscience.
Rodrigo Navarrete, 59, was captured by the Police on November 25. The Nicaraguan dictatorship fabricated charges against him for alleged “illegal possession or possession of firearms and ammunition.” According to the accusation of the Public Ministry to which he had access Article 66, the victim who appears in the court document is the “public security of Nicaraguan society.”
The persecuted politician Victoria Cárdenas continues her demand that the Nicaraguan regime allow her and her daughter, both in exile, to communicate with the prisoner of conscience Juan Sebastián Chamorro. He demands a phone call, a letter or a photograph. They have 562 days without having any kind of contact with Chamorro.
Cárdenas explained that her main desire is to achieve the release of her husband and the rest of the political prisoners, to have rights as a Nicaraguan, which are consigned in the Political Constitution of Nicaragua, to return to her country without being repressed and without being harassed and persecuted.
