Mexico City, Feb. 16, (dpa/GNA) - Nicaragua’s authoritarian government has revoked the citizenship of 94 government critics, including a cleric, journalists and two of the country’s best-known writers.
All were found guilty of high treason by different judges, the judiciary announced on Wednesday.
Among those affected are the Central American country’s most important contemporary writers, Sergio Ramírez and Gioconda Belli, as well as a bishop and journalists already living in exile. They have been classified as fugitives from justice and their assets are to be confiscated.
This is not the first time the government of former guerilla fighter Daniel Ortega is taking drastic steps to get rid of its opponents.
Last week, 222 people who, according to human rights activists, had been incarcerated for political reasons were deported to the US.
Their citizenship has also been revoked.
In 2018, more than 350 people were killed during anti-government protests.
The former Sandinista revolutionary Ortega has ruled Nicaragua for 16 years. He first came to power in 1979 following the fall of dictator Anastasio Somoza, first as a member of a government junta and then as president. He was voted out of office in 1990, but returned as head of state and government in 2007.
Ortega’s wife Rosario Murillo has been the country’s vice president since 2017. Before his controversial re-election in 2021, Ortega had seven rival candidates arrested.
GNA