The Superior Council of Private Enterprise (COSEP), the main employers’ organization in Nicaragua, thanked the government of President Daniel Ortega on Monday for the release of 222 Nicaraguan prisoners, including 7 members of this union, and appreciated that it take “a big step to begin unity”.
“The Superior Council of Private Enterprise (COSEP) thanks the government of Nicaragua for the unilateral decision to release 222 prisoners, including 7 members of COSEP,” the Nicaraguan employers said in a public statement.
Cosep expressed its gratitude to the people and government of the United States “for receiving them and giving them full attention.”
“We think it was a big step to start the unity of the Nicaraguan family,” he said.
Among the 7 members of Cosep freed and expatriates are Michael Healy and Álvaro Vargas, who presided over the leadership of this boss when they were arrested for crimes considered treason.
Also the businessman José Adán Aguerri Chamorro, who led Cosep for 13 years, in which he promoted a consensual alliance with the Ortega government and with the Sandinista unions.
Nicaraguan authorities released and deported to the United States on February 9 a group of 222 political prisoners, including 7 who were trying to contest the presidency with the current president, the Sandinista Ortega, as traitors to the homeland, according to a decision of Justice of Calls of Managua.
A day later, the Nicaraguan authorities stripped the 222 prisoners of their Nicaraguan nationality, including the 7 from Cosep, which made no reference to this case in its statement.
These 222 Nicaraguan prisoners, including opposition leaders, priests, human rights defenders, Sandinista dissidents, journalists, businessmen and critics of the Ortega government, were also permanently disqualified. to hold public office, to positions elected by the people, and have suspended their citizenship rights for life. .
The Organization of American States (OAS) demanded that the Ortega government in Nicaragua restore the rights of the 222 political prisoners deported to the United States.
Nicaragua has been going through a political and social crisis since April 2018, which worsened after the controversial general elections of November 7, 2021, in which Ortega was re-elected for a fifth term, the fourth in a row and the second with his wife. . , Rosario Murillo. , as vice-president, with her main suitors in prison or in exile.