Nicaragua’s authoritarian government is also increasing pressure on its critics abroad. After the deportation and expatriation of 222 opposition prisoners, the judiciary in the Central American country on Wednesday (local time) revoked the citizenship of 94 other people who were already living in exile. The expatriates also include the renowned writer Sergio Ramírez and the internationally renowned author Gioconda Belli. All had been expatriated for high treason, said the chairman of the Court of Appeal in the capital Managua.
Also affected are diplomats, journalists, human rights activists, politicians and the Catholic Bishop Silvio Báez. “The defendants continue to commit criminal acts to the detriment of the peace, sovereignty, independence and self-determination of the Nicaraguan people,” the judge said. They have also been accused of spreading false news and undermining national integrity. Their assets are to be confiscated.
Ramírez, who won the Spanish Cervantes Literature Prize in 2017, and Belli (“Inhabited Woman” and others) live in exile in Spain. Both were companions of today’s President Daniel Ortega in the 1970s in the struggle of the left-wing Sandinistas against the dictatorship of Anastasio Somoza. After the fall of Somoza in 1979, Ortega and Ramírez became members of the five-man ruling junta. Then, in 1985, Ortega took over the presidency while Ramírez became vice president. In 1990 they were voted out.
Prisoners deported to the United States
Ortega returned to power as head of state and government in 2007 and has ruled continuously ever since. His wife Rosario Murillo has been Vice President since 2017. The ex-guerrilla and his wife are using ever harsher methods against critics. More than 350 people were killed in anti-government protests in 2018. Ahead of his controversial 2021 re-election, Ortega had seven competing candidates arrested. 3,000 non-governmental organizations lost their accreditation.
Last week, Ortega deported to the United States almost all of the prisoners who human rights activists say were being held in Nicaragua for political reasons. They were also stripped of their citizenship. Bishop Rolando Álvarez, who was under house arrest, refused to be taken out of the country. The following day he was sentenced to 26 years in prison. According to media reports, the cleric is now being held in a small cell under harsh prison conditions.
