Trump Helps Ortega by Deporting Nicaraguan Activists

 

At least 20 Nicaraguans seeking asylum were deported from the US and are now missing.

The fear of the relatives of the Nicaraguans who were denied political asylum is that the authorities will transfer them to the El Chipote prison to interrogate them or worse.

 

HAVANA TIMES – Despite claims by the Trump administration that it considers the government of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murrio a brutal dictatorship and calling it a threat to US National Security, in practice the administration has found a way to help Ortega, who was a stable business ally of the US for over a decade.

Some Nicaraguans who have gone into exile in the Unites States after fleeing the repression and persecution of the regime of Daniel Ortega, for having participated in some way in the civic protests starting in April are being deported after being denied political asylum, according to human rights activists, reported La Prensa newspaper on Sunday.

The fear of the relatives of the deportees, according to the complaint, is that the Nicaraguan authorities, upon receiving the exiles, will immediately transfer them to the notorious El Chipote interrogation prison to investigate them.

At least twenty Nicaraguans were deported on Wednesday, January 3rd at night.

According to Roger Castaño, representative of the Permanent Commission of Human Rights (CPDH) of Nicaragua in Miami, the fate of the returnees is unknown.

One of the Nicaraguan’s who had protested against the Ortega government, arrested in Texas, is a 32-year-old from Matagalpa. He after being persecuted by paramilitaries and after his house was marked with the threat of “plomo” (lead) he decided to go to the United States, where he was arrested by immigration officers on December 23, notes La Prensa.

According to his relatives, he was transferred to Miami, without the right to see a lawyer. “It took us four days to locate him in through the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement and now they do not give us any information, so we do not know if he is still there or if he has already been deported to Nicaragua,” said a relative.

The twenty Nicaraguans deported, according to Castaño, were at the Broward Transitional Center for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Pompano Beach, Broward County.

“It’s sad that these guys who fled the regime of Ortega-Murillo will be put in their hands again, without having committed any crime other than to defend their homeland and think differently, (and) love democracy,” said the family.

The regime has not stopped besieging the Matagalpa resident. In his absence, men in civilian clothes have come looking for him at home, arriving with the excuse of checking the electricity meters, said his relatives, who are very afraid.

More deportees

Among the deportees is the activist David Gomez, from Estelí, in northern Nicaragua, who has participated in several demonstrations against the Ortega government, according to a note published in the Miami Herald.

“They are deporting our brothers who are requesting political asylum and we believe that this is wrong because President Donald Trump himself has said that Nicaragua is a danger to the internal security of the United States, since there is a criminal dictatorship,” said the Nicaraguan activist.

There are reports of people who have proof that they participated in the “civic rebellion of the Nicaraguan are being sought after by the Police and the Sandinista paramilitary formces, and yet they were deported,” Castaño said at the press conference in Miami.

The deportees had arrived in the United States in recent months to ask for political asylum. “Some traveled by plane and others entered by land at the border,” said the human rights defender.

The activists also announced that they plan a demonstration in front of the White House so that the temporary protection status (TPS) is maintained for Nicaraguans and granted to Venezuelans because they are also under a “dictatorship.”

Al Chipote

According to Roger Castano, representative of the Permanent Commission of Human Rights (CPDH) of Nicaragua in Miami, deporting the Nicaraguans who protested against Ortega equals sending them to their deaths.

“Deporting these Nicaraguans means sending them to repression and death. We believe that it is immoral and that is why we ask our representatives, our senators, to stop the deportations,” said the activist.

Castano said that some of the people deported to Nicaragua are abducted and disappeared by the Sandinista regime or end up kidnapped in El Chipote.