The United States has secured the release of 135 political prisoners in Nicaragua on humanitarian grounds, the White House said Thursday (5), adding that they will go to Guatemala before attempting to legally move to the United States or other countries.
The release is the result of “months of negotiations between the United States and Nicaragua,” the two countries said in a joint statement.
The White House said all those released are Nicaraguan citizens and members of an evangelical Christian organization, lay Catholics and students.
In 2023, more than 200 Nicaraguan political prisoners were released and flown to the United States. At the time, President Daniel Ortega — who has been responsible for cracking down on dissent in recent years — described the releases as an effort to expel criminals who were working to undermine Nicaragua.
The president’s administration has yet to comment on the latest release.
Early Thursday morning, the plane carrying the Nicaraguans arrived in Guatemala, according to the office of Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo.
Those released will remain in Guatemala, where they will have the opportunity to legally apply to go to another country. The U.S. has provided transportation and will feed and house them as well, according to the statement with Guatemala.
In 2021, Washington imposed sanctions and denounced Ortega’s re-election as a “farce” after all of his main opponents were rounded up and detained by police in the months leading up to the vote, as well as journalists and religious figures.
Among the prisoners released are 13 members of the Texas-based evangelical organization Mountain Gateway, according to the White House.
According to Mountain Gateway, 11 of its pastors had been arrested in December 2023 and were convicted in early 2024 on money laundering charges, which the organization denounced as unfounded.
“It is heartbreaking to know that people we consider family are sitting in prison for sharing the Gospel,” Mountain Gateway President Jon Britton Hancock said in a March statement.
Ortega accused church leaders of trying to overthrow his government after the Catholic Church tried to mediate negotiations between the government and anti-government protesters in 2018.
The mass street protests were met with a violent counterattack by Ortega’s security forces that resulted in the deaths of more than 300 civilians, according to human rights groups and international observers.
Since then, the government has arrested or expelled dozens of Catholic priests and shut down thousands of civil society groups, most accused of financial crimes.
This content was originally published in Nicaragua releases 135 political prisoners after negotiations with the United States on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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