The Nicaraguan political prisoners expelled from their country after being released arrived this Thursday at the Dulles airport (Virginia, USA), on the outskirts of Washington and were transferred to a nearby hotel.
The Government of Joe Biden offers legal and medical assistance to the group of those released, including Cristiana Chamorro, the candidate for the Presidency of Nicaragua who was most likely to defeat the current president, Daniel Ortega, as well as other opponents such as Félix Madariaga and student leaders Lesther Alemán and Max Jérez.
In a press appearance, State Department spokesman Ned Price confirmed that the prisoners have arrived in Washington and assured that they agreed to travel to the United States voluntarily.
As he pointed out, the US authorities made sure before they boarded the plane that “every one of them wanted to travel to the United States.”
Price clarified that although the expulsion of the prisoners was “a unilateral decision of the Nicaraguan government” not negotiated with Washington, the United States “agreed to receive them.”
Related news: “Ortega will end up negotiating” with the United States, say opponents
“We are proud to receive them in the United States. It is a positive and constructive step by the Nicaraguan government, but it is not a panacea for the concerns we have about Nicaragua,” said the spokesman for US diplomacy.
For this reason, the US spokesman stressed that the sanctions against Nicaragua “remain in force” and urged the Ortega government to take new “steps” to comply with the aspirations of the Nicaraguan people, which, he stressed, involve respect for democracy and human rights.
Price explained that the State Department has organized the reception of the 222 prisoners, including a US citizen, “so that they stay in hotels during their first term with the help of NGOs.”
As EFE was able to verify, the entire group has been transferred to a hotel. There, the lawyer Jared Genser, who represents the opponents Félix Madariaga and Juan Sebastián Chamorro, explained to the media that these people have the option of staying in the hotel or leaving with their family and friends.
For hours, activists and relatives of the 222 expelled Nicaraguan political prisoners waited this morning at Dulles International Airport, near Washington, to meet them.
Among them was Alexa Zamora, a member of the Blue and White National Unity, who told EFE that the release of the prisoners is “a political and moral defeat” for Ortega because “it was unsustainable to continue kidnapping people with such a relevant profile.” ”.
“I was on the list of people to be jailed. I left the country at the same time that they were being arrested and it is one of the reasons why I am not one of the ones on that flight,” this woman who has been in exile in the United States since 2021 expressed emotionally.
Zamora opined that, despite being “exiled”, life in the United States “is much better than in a prison of the regime” of Ortega.
The Government of Nicaragua released them this Thursday and expelled them from the country. After their release, they were transferred to the Managua international airport, where they boarded a plane bound for Washington.
