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At the beginning of September, the Nicaraguan government decided to revoke the nationality of the 135 released prisoners and freeze their assets within the country.
The Nicaraguans released from prison in their country on September 5 and who are temporarily refugees in Guatemala , long for a “free” country and the end of “tyranny” in Nicaragua and express their concern for political prisoners.
“In Nicaragua, many people remain imprisoned and kidnapped by a regime that has captured the country,” Juan Carlos Baquedano, one of the 136 prisoners released from prison transferred to Guatemala on September 5, told EFE on Sunday .
Baquedano, 67, was detained for 400 days in Nicaragua until his expulsion to Guatemala three weeks ago.
Along with the rest of the released prisoners, Baquedano attended a religious service this Sunday at a hotel in Guatemala City with Pastor Walner Blandón, who was also imprisoned in Nicaragua for 9 months.
Before the event, the exiles explained that they were gathered to “cry out” for a “Free Nicaragua” and for the lives of people who remain imprisoned for political reasons in the Central American nation, which has been presided over by Daniel Ortega since 2007.
“Ortega uses prisoners as bargaining chips,” says Baquedano, who recalls having been part of the Sandinista revolution between 1979 and 1990 that ended the dictatorship of the Somoza family.
“We got rid of (Anastasio) Somoza believing that we had the solution, but we ended up falling into something worse,” laments Baquedano, arrested in 2023 when he returned to Nicaragua to arrange some paperwork for a property in his name.
Departure to “end tyranny”
Baquedano believes that “removing” Daniel Ortega from power is the only way to “put an end to the tyranny” that is currently in place in the country.
The former military officer was also imprisoned for four months in 2018, during the wave of protests against the Sandinista government, which responded by imprisoning and killing protesters, as reported by relatives of the victims and local and international human rights organizations.
“There is no separation of powers in Nicaragua (…) we know that it is a complex process but the greatest desire is to return one day,” added Baquedano.
Currently, the 135 Nicaraguans expelled and received in Guatemala remain in a hotel and together with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) are seeking to resolve their situation of exile in the United States and other countries.
Another of the released prisoners, who preferred not to be identified, explained to EFE that many of them do not want to go to the United States even if they are granted a work permit because it will be very difficult to reunite with their family who remain in Nicaragua , so some may seek to settle in Costa Rica or Guatemala.
At the beginning of September, the Nicaraguan government decided to revoke the nationality of the 135 released prisoners and freeze their assets within the country.
Nicaraguan authorities have stripped 452 Nicaraguans of their nationality and property in the past two years, many of them open critics of the government, accusing them of, among other crimes, treason.
