Washington, D.C., September 5, 2024. In a dramatic development today, the United States announced that 135 political prisoners in Nicaragua have been freed. The latest action of this increasingly authoritarian regime, headed by President Daniel Ortega, had been related to the release of detainees considered threatening to the maintenance of order.
The U.S. State Department verified that the released individuals included members of faith organizations, students, and other activists who entered Guatemala on Thursday. Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo-who has collaborated with the United States on migration issues-said the individuals had been allowed to apply for asylum in the United States.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said, “We call for the immediate and unconditional release of all political prisoners and prisoners of conscience in Nicaragua. The people of Nicaragua deserve to see democracy restored in their country and to enjoy human rights and fundamental freedoms without fear of persecution.”
The mass transfer, now a second time in history, the first being in February 2023, when more than 200 were flown into the U.S. The prisoners released have reacted well to the undeserved freedom. But human rights groups had said freeing the prisoners was a transparent attempt to remove political opponents and improve Ortega’s image abroad.
Among those freed are 13 members of Mountain Gateway, an evangelical Christian organization based in Texas. Nicaraguan authorities had accused them of money laundering and organized crime, charges that Mountain Gateway has strongly denied. The organization had said its financial records were made available to be reviewed by the Nicaraguan authorities.
Ortega, 78, first reached power in 2007 after leading a former leftist guerrilla movement back in the 1980s. His administration has dismantled presidential term limits, taken over all branches of government and cracked down on all opposition forces, including the Catholic Church and some non-governmental organizations.
This is just another chapter in Nicaragua’s very continuous political crisis, standing at an intersection between international diplomacy and internal politics.
