San Jose, Feb. 16. The human rights organization Center for Justice and International Law (Cejil) described as “alarming” the withdrawal of the nationality of 94 opponents of the Nicaraguan government and asked the countries where these people are of their provide protection.
“We join the voices that demand from the government of Daniel Ortega the immediate return of this right, as well as guarantees that their human rights will be protected. We also demand an end to the political persecution of citizens and we call on States in the territory of which are the exiles who adopt the necessary measures to protect their rights,” Cejil said in a statement.
The organization claimed that the 94 opponents were arbitrarily deprived of their nationality, which it described as a violation of human rights and “an alarming new mechanism of repression against those who dare to question or criticize the diet”.
Among those stripped of their nationality are the writers Sergio Ramírez and Gioconda Belli, as well as the auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Managua, Silvio Báez.
Cejil expressed concern, in particular, for people who remain in Nicaragua, including human rights defenders Azahalea Solís and Vilma Núñez de Escorcia, president of the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (Cenidh).
“We know that for these people, their condition as Nicaraguans does not depend on arrangements made against them without legal support and contrary to international law; their commitment, affections and wills let them know that they are and always will be Nicaraguans,” the organization said.
Cejil adds that the decision of the Nicaraguan State exposes these people to the risk of statelessness and recalls that “as established by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights: statelessness has the effect of making it impossible for a person to enjoyment of civil and political rights, and causing a condition of extreme vulnerability”.
Nicaraguan authorities on Wednesday stripped another 94 Nicaraguans of their nationality, bringing the total to 317 last week, including Bishop Rolando Álvarez, who was sentenced to more than 26 years in prison after refusing to be exiled by the Ortega government on the American territory.
There are also the 222 political prisoners who were released and deported to the United States on February 9.
In the new list of 94 Nicaraguans declared stateless, former commander of the revolution Luis Carrión, former foreign minister Norman Caldera, former Sandinista magistrate Rafael Solís, former Nicaraguan ambassador to the OAS Arturo Also notable are McFields and journalist Carlos Fernando Chamorro, among others, who have been charged with crimes deemed “treason”, according to a ruling by the Managua Court of Appeals.
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, fourth consecutive and second with his wife, Rosario Murillo, as vice-president, with her main suitors in prison or in exile. ECE
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