MANAGUA (AP) — The political machine of the Sandinista regime in Nicaragua held a march of thousands of supporters on Saturday to celebrate the government’s decision to expel and send to the United States 222 opposition leaders, activists, priests, students and journalists who were prisoners.
The participants carried red and black flags of the Sandinista National Liberation Front during their peaceful mobilization, like those that the government has prohibited the opposition from carrying out in recent years.
Lizbeth Chávez, who was carrying a portrait of Vice President and First Lady Rosario Murillo, said that “we are marching, celebrating our sovereignty, defending our sovereignty and telling the Yankee empire that we are here, we will continue here, we will stay here.”
President Daniel Ortega had said that it was Murillo’s idea to make the sudden decision to release 222 opposition members from jail on Thursday to send them by plane to Washington. The ruling couple referred to those opponents as “terrorists” financed by Washington to destabilize the Nicaraguan government.
While the plane was still in the air, Sandinista legislators approved a constitutional amendment to strip the former prisoners of their Nicaraguan citizenship.
The United States granted all the exiles a two-year humanitarian parole to allow them to work and request asylum in the country. For its part, the Spanish government offered them citizenship.
US authorities said the release of the opponents was a positive sign after years of intransigence by Ortega, who insisted he had not asked for anything in return.
The United States and several European countries have increased sanctions against the Ortega family, his close circle and members of the Nicaraguan government.
The Sandinista show of force on Saturday came a day after a Nicaraguan judge sentenced Catholic Bishop Rolando Álvarez — an outspoken critic of the government — to 26 years in jail on various charges including spreading false information and undermining the government. .
Álvarez was considered to board the plane to the United States on Thursday morning but he refused to leave Nicaragua, he was detained and sentenced the following day.
During the mobilization on Saturday, Donal Manuel Mendoza said: “We are marching because we have defeated the mercenary force of the empire. We got them out of the country.”
