Nicaragua strips citizenship from 94 political opponents

Tegucigalpa, Feb 16 (EFE).- Nicaraguan judicial authorities have stripped 94 political opponents accused of being traitors of their citizenship.

The list of those affected includes human rights defenders, writers and former allies of the Central American nation’s long-serving president Daniel Ortega.

Appeals court judge Ernesto Rodríguez said Wednesday the accused had been found guilty of being “traitors” and fugitives of justice. He added in the sentence that the state would seize their assets.

Public prosecutors had accused the 94 defendants of conspiracy to undermine national integrity and of spreading misinformation.

Among those affected by the ruling were writers Sergio Ramírez and Gioconda Belli, auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Managua Silvio Báez and former revolutionary and Ortega ally Luis Carríon.

Human rights defender Vilma Núñez, former foreign minister Norman Caldera, ex- supreme court judge Rafael Solís, Nicaragua’s former ambassador to the Organization of American States (OEA) Arturo McFields and journalist Carlos Fernando Chamorro were among those to be stripped of their citizenship.

The long list included, among others, former Ortega collaborators, climate campaigners, Sandinista dissidents, students and businesspeople.

Nicaragua has been in the teeth of an acute political crisis since April 2018, which worsened following controversial elections on November 7, 2021 in which Ortega was re-elected for a fifth mandate.

It was his fourth consecutive mandate and his second with his wife Rosario Murillo as vice president.

Many of the pair’s political opponents have been jailed or forced into exile.EFE

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