Nicaragua: Authorities release and deport more than 200 political prisoners, including writers and journalists, in unprecedented move
10 February: On 9 February, the Nicaraguan authorities released 222 political prisoners and deported them to the USA: including writer Oscar René Vargas Escobar and journalists Miguel Mora, Miguel Mendoza Urbina, Juan Lorenzo Holmann Chamorro, Cristiana Chamorro, Pedro Joaquín Chamorro, and political commentator Jaime Arellano. Among those released is also Gabriel Alfonso López del Carmen, son of PEN Nicaragua Director of International Programmes, Andrea Margarita del Carmen, who was arrested in October 2022 in retaliation for his mother’s work.
We celebrate the release of the 222 political prisoners unjustly imprisoned by Nicaraguan authorities in an attempt to silence the voice of an entire country. They should never have been imprisoned because of their social, political, journalistic, cultural, or literary activities, and their families should never have been threatened. Their imprisonment is a symbol of the iron censorship imposed by the Nicaraguan government. PEN International will continue to work for literature, arts, and to defend freedom of expression in Nicaragua as a common currency among peoples regardless of political or international upheaval, said Burhan Sonmez, President of PEN International.
In a public announcement on 9 February 2023, Judge Octavio Rothschuh, President of Chamber One of the Managua Court of Appeal, made public the sentence issued the previous day, decreeing "the immediate and effective deportation of 222 people sentenced for committing acts that undermine the independence, sovereignty and self-determination of the people; for inciting violence, terrorism and economic destabilisation (...)". Those released were declared traitors to the homeland and disqualified for life from holding public office, and had their citizenship rights suspended for life.
The rights of our fellow writers and journalists should never have been curtailed. We condemn the fact that the Nicaraguan state has withdrawn their nationality and convicted them of crimes they never committed. The Nicaraguan authorities must avoid persecution of the relatives of those released, as well as guarantee the exercise of free expression of journalists, writers and cultural actors in Nicaragua. Cultural rights must be ensured and be free from any political bias, said Ma Thida, Chair of Writers in Prison Committee of PEN International.
Due to the escalation of repression and censorship by the Nicaraguan government, which has intensified since 2018, more than 50 media outlets have been closed and more than 150 journalists have been forced into exile. Over 3,000 NGOs have been shut down by the government, among them, PEN Nicaragua and the Nicaraguan Academy of Language. Thirty eight people are still imprisoned in Nicaragua for political reasons.
PEN International reiterates its commitment to freedom of expression in Nicaragua, as well as to its work in defence of Nicaraguan writers and journalists at risk. The organisation will continue to monitor and raise awareness of the violations of press freedom, artistic freedom and freedom of expression in Nicaragua through the international observatory "Eye on Nicaragua" and other advocacy work.
For more information, please contact Alicia Quiñones, Head of The Americas Region, at PEN International, email: alicia.quinones@pen-international.org