Nicaragua’s authoritarian government has revoked the citizenship of 94 other government critics. All had been found guilty of high treason by various judges, the judiciary announced yesterday.
The expatriates also include the Central American country’s most important contemporary writers, Sergio Ramírez and Gioconda Belli, as well as a bishop and journalists already in exile. They were classified as fugitives from justice. Their assets are to be confiscated.
Tough crackdown on critics
The government of ex-guerrillas Daniel Ortega is using harsh means against his critics. Last week, 222 people were deported to the United States who, according to human rights activists, had been detained for political reasons. They were also stripped of their Nicaraguan citizenship. More than 350 people died in anti-government protests in 2018.
Former Sandinista revolutionary Ortega has ruled uninterrupted for 16 years. After the fall of the dictator Anastasio Somoza, he first came to power in 1979, first as a member of a government junta and then as president. He was voted out in 1990, but returned as head of state and government in 2007. Ortega’s wife, Rosario Murillo, has served as Vice President since 2017. Ahead of his controversial 2021 re-election, Ortega had seven competing candidates arrested.
