Nicaragua Releases 135 Political Prisoners on Humanitarian Grounds
New York TimesAUG 20 2024
Following negotiations with the Nicaraguan government, the United States successfully obtained the release of several political prisoners on Thursday. The White House announced that Nicaragua had released 135 prisoners from jail on humanitarian grounds.
Nicaragua has deported the political prisoners to Guatemala before they may travel to the US or other countries. President Daniel Ortega's government has since 2018 increasingly cracked down on the opposition and exiled many opposition members.
The Nicaraguan government has also shut down over 5K NGOs, private universities, and civil society organizations. The government has detained priests and pastors, sometimes arresting them during Mass.
This was a diplomatic victory for the US, which successfully negotiated the release of 135 political prisoners from President Ortega's dictatorship without offering anything in return. Ortega's arbitrary arrests and incarceration of members of the opposition and NGOs, and stripping dissidents of their nationality, must cease. No one should have to risk getting arrested for peacefully exercising their fundamental rights of free expression, assocation, and religtion.
The 2018 mass protests in Nicaragua were a failed coup with foreign backing. The Sandinista National Liberation Front asserts its right to defend the country. Nicaraguan authorities have taken legal action and handed down sentences to individuals charged with conspiracy and treason. The United States continued involvement in Nicaragua's internal affairs is seen as an example of North American imperialism.