The Reflection Group of Politically Released Prisoners (GREX) denounced to the Nicaraguan community and the independent media the deportation order issued against the Nicaraguan Leonardo Antonio Rayo Torrez, ex-prisoner of conscience residing in the United States.
According to a report published by the organization, the migrant entered the North American country on April 4, 2022, irregularly. However, upon stating his case, he was released and moved to the city of San Francisco, California. For a year, he worked as a gardener and later moved to the state of Utah, where he began working as a dispatcher at a gas station.
It was there when police authorities captured Rayo Torrez, since they had filed a complaint against him for committing “indecent acts on public roads in the presence of some minors.” However, the former political prisoner explained that “his pants had torn due to a bad body movement and, at some point, while he was walking there were those who thought it was an obscene act.”
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After analyzing the case, the officers confirmed and accepted Rayo’s version, for which he was not subjected to any judicial process. But, upon being captured, the agents detected that the legal procedures for political asylum had expired and proceeded to transfer him to an Immigration prison unit. “The problem became an exclusively immigration issue,” indicated GREX.
The organization maintained that “since he entered the United States, Leonardo Rayo presented normal and acceptable citizen behavior, without facing any problems with the authorities. Until the incident at the gas station, which caused his immigration legality problem.
The organization also denounced that Rayo Torrez “has not had a private lawyer.” «The State gave him one who has not achieved fluid communication with the family. His legal process has continued to advance and we know that there is already a deportation order, to be executed in the coming days. The cause of this situation is the failure to comply with the corresponding immigration procedures,” he warned.
Likewise, the GREX pointed out that the prisoner of conscience suffers from depressive problems, which prevented the Nicaraguan from “managing to defend himself rationally and argue vigorously that he is a politically persecuted person in Nicaragua.”
The group affirms that if Rayo Torrez returns to his homeland, “his life and integrity are in very serious danger.” «The possibilities of the regime exposing him are enormous as a trophy, same as Douglas Gamaliel Pérez Centeno (recently extradited from Costa Rica).
“As politically released prisoners, we know the regime’s way of operating and we consider that every possible effort must be made so that he is not deported to Nicaragua, where torture, cruel and degrading inhuman treatment are our daily bread,” he lamented. the GREX.
Call to action
Given the immigration problems faced by Rayo Torrez, GREX considered that “it is necessary for the diaspora in the United States, human rights organizations and Nicaraguans in the United States, and lawyers to contribute to avoiding his deportation.”
«It is urgent and necessary to raise awareness among the North American authorities about the sad case of Leonardo Rayo Torrez. Actions must be taken before the judicial system, the executive and legislative branches to prevent this imminent deportation,” the organization added.
In addition, the GREX specified that the family of the former political prisoner “does not have the resources to face this problem. His closest friends in the United States are scattered throughout other cities and face economic and mobility problems. “We launched a call for help for Leonardo Rayo Torrez.”
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He will suffer if he returns to Nicaragua
Leonardo Antonio Rayo Torrez, 38 years old, has a high school degree and was in his first year in Graphic Design. He was illegally and violently detained by the National Police, at the service of the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo, on July 21, 2019 and released until December of that year.
In addition to actively participating in the protests, Rayo founded the group Resistencia por Nicaragua (RPN), together with political activists Roberto Francisco García García, María Guadalupe Ruiz Briceño and Leonardo Alberto Flores. The organization participated in the marches and when these were prohibited by the Nicaraguan dictatorship, they continued demonstrating in the Managua Cathedral.
However, the Nicaraguans, including Rayo, were captured through deception. They took them to the El Plomo hill, where they put them on their knees, beat them, accused them of being coup plotters and terrorists, and threatened to kill them, until they were transferred to “El Chipote.”
They stripped Rayo Torrez naked, took away all his belongings, took him to a very small cell, interrogated him and threatened to “cut off his testicles” if he did not cooperate with the repressive agents. “There were five interrogations a night, without sleep and constant beatings, without water, without food and without medical assistance, three days passed until they stopped asking,” GREX indicated.
After his release, Rayo tried to work again and opened a Mechanical Workshop along with two other released prisoners. But harassment and police presence made its operation impossible, leading to its closure.
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On multiple occasions, police patrols went to Rayo’s house to watch, take photos, frighten the neighbors and all the family members, creating an atmosphere of tension and threatening him that at any moment he could be captured. Later, the former political prisoner dedicated himself to commercial transportation tasks, with a vehicle provided by his family, but he also had to abandon work due to the police harassment that he experienced.
The closure of the electoral exit and the arrests of 2021 opponents were decisive for Rayo to leave for Costa Rica, where he remained for several months. Then, he managed to reach Mexico, where he reunited with his friends from the RPN and illegally entered the United States, seeking political asylum.
Currently, Leonardo Rayo is in an immigration jail in the city of “Las Vegas”, while his deportation order will be issued in the coming days, according to GREX. The organization sends a message of help to the national and international community, so that the Nicaraguan does not return to the ordeal that he suffered in his own country.
