US negotiates release of Nicaraguan political prisoners

The Nicaraguan government released 135 prisoners and sent them to Guatemala. 

It emerged that the release on 5 September was negotiated by the United States. The Guatemalan government has said that it would support the Nicaraguans while they planned their transit to third countries. 

In a statement, the US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said: “Today, the United States secured the release on humanitarian grounds of 135 political prisoners unjustly detained by Nicaraguan authorities.

“These individuals safely and voluntarily arrived in Guatemala, and we thank President Bernardo Arévalo and his administration for their efforts and support in welcoming them.  These freed Nicaraguan citizens will now have the opportunity to apply for lawful pathways to resettle to the United States or elsewhere and begin the process of rebuilding their lives.”

The released prisoners included human rights advocates and activists associated with religious groups, including Catholic laypeople and 13 individuals affiliated with the Texas-based evangelical group Mountain Gateway. 

“Nicaraguan authorities unjustly detained these individuals for exercising their fundamental freedoms of expression, of association and peaceful assembly, and of religion or belief,” said Blinken.  “All of them must now undertake the tremendous challenge of establishing their lives in a new country.”

The former prisoners reported harsh treatment and torture during their detention, including electric shocks to their genitals.

Human rights groups estimate that there are still 36 political prisoners in Nicaraguan jails, including Brooklyn Rivera, a long-time campaigner for the rights of the Miskito people of north-eastern Nicaragua.

The recent releases did not, however, indicate any wider change in the Nicaraguan regime’s attitude to religious groups and the Catholic Church in particular.

On the same day as the release of the prisoners, a priest from the Diocese of Estelí – formerly administered by the exiled Bishop of Matagalpa Rolando Álvarez – Fr Luis Eduardo Benavides, fled the country after harassment by Sandinista supporters.

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