Daniel Ortega’s regime stripped another 94 people of their Nicaraguan citizenship this Wednesday. Among those affected are the writers Sergio Ramírez, winner of the Cervantes Prize, and Gioconda Belli, both in exile; Nicaraguan journalist Carlos Fernando Chamorro, writer and feminist Sofía Montenegro, Bishop Silvio Báez, one of the most critical voices in the Church, and activist Vilma Núñez, President of the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (IACHR). The expropriation was announced by the President of the Managua Court of Appeal, Ernesto Rodríguez, and following the verdict, those affected will be charged with “treason” and considered “fugitives from justice”. In addition to stripping Nicaraguan citizenship, the judicial system under Ortega’s control orders all property to be confiscated on behalf of those affected. Among those losing their nationality is the journalist Wilfredo Miranda, an EL PAÍS collaborator.
The decision comes a week after the regime ordered the expulsion of 222 political prisoners from Nicaragua, who were also stripped of their citizenship. Those individuals were taken last Wednesday morning on a United States-chartered plane to a hotel on the outskirts of Washington, where the released men were assisted by the State Department to begin a process that would allow them to gain legal status in the country. Spain has also offered to give them their nationality, a decision several of those detained have accepted. Among the people released last week was former Sandinista guerrilla Dora María Téllez, Commander Two of the Nicaraguan Revolution, who told this newspaper that “every day I didn’t hang myself was a triumph over Ortega.”
Today’s decision affects religious, activists, politicians, intellectuals, journalists who follow their coverage of Nicaragua from abroad, mainly Costa Rica, the epicenter of Nicaraguan exile, feminists and some of the most critical voices against the Ortega regime. “They are thieves, but God will give me back a better house than the one they steal,” said journalist Lucía Pineda Ubau, who lives in exile in Costa Rica. Ubau fe was arrested in December 2018 after police stormed and occupied the Managua television station 100% Noticias facilities and also arrested its director, Miguel Mora. “The house cost me a lot. I planted more than 100 seedlings. I improved it with my father’s legacy,” Ubau told journalists this afternoon. “I’m still Nicaraguan and the dictatorship can’t take that away from me. We have been overwhelmed by them. What was stolen must be returned to all Nicaraguans, those people who have taken clear, firm and courageous positions,” the journalist explained. “I was expecting that since the television station was stolen from us. Do you think that we journalists will be silenced in exile? They’re crazy, they’re desperate. They are in their final days,” Ubau said.
News in development. More information coming soon.
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