Several thousand people marched in Nicaragua on Saturday to show their support for President Daniel Ortega’s decision to release and deport to the United States 222 political prisoners accused of being “traitors to the homeland”.
The pro-government demonstration took place in the main streets of the capital Managua, where participants, carrying flags of Nicaragua, Venezuela, Cuba and the ruling Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), chanted slogans in favor of the government and against the opposition.
Some held airplane-shaped balloons, a reference to the plane that carried the opponents expelled on February 9.
“We are marching to celebrate the expulsion of all the criminals who were detained, people who were putschists, who were doing more harm to the image of Nicaragua,” Walter Martinez told AFP, adding that Daniel Ortega is “a democratic president”.
“We celebrate peace, because in Nicaragua we want to live in peace, that’s why the commander (Ortega) has (undertook) to send these thieves to their homeland, the United States, because we don’t want of them here,” Rosa Arauz, another protester, told AFP.
During a concert organized at the end of the parade, a song resounded qualifying the expelled detainees as “putschists”, “traitors” and “murderers”.
Among those expelled are former presidential candidates, journalists, former Sandinista guerrilla commanders, former ministers and ex-diplomats.
Separately, a Nicaraguan court on Friday sentenced Rolando Alvarez, a Catholic bishop critical of Mr. Ortega’s government, to 26 years in prison.
He had refused to leave for the United States with the other opponents.
All were deprived of their political rights and stripped of their nationality.
Hundreds of opponents have been detained in Nicaragua following the crackdown on protests that erupted in 2018 against Mr. Ortega, in power since 2007 and re-elected in disputed elections.
US Foreign Minister Antony Blinken hailed the release of political prisoners and said it could pave the way for dialogue with Mr Ortega.
02/12/2023 10:27:56 – Managua (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
