Spain Offers Nationality to 135 Banished Nicaraguans
Currently in Guatemala
More than 120 other banished Nicaraguans have obtained Spanish nationality by July 2024 through a special and expedited process known as “letter of naturalization.”
HAVANA TIMES – The 135 Nicaraguans who were released from prison and exiled to Guatemala on September 5, 2024, will be eligible to apply for Spanish nationality, just as other Nicaraguans who were stripped of their nationality by orders of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo, Spain’s Foreign Minister, Jose Manuel Albares, announced.
The minister noted that this offer of Spanish nationality is similar to what the government already extended in 2023 to other Nicaraguans deprived of their citizenship and clarified that the offer also applies to their immediate family members. “Our commitment to them is firm, and I am pleased to announce today that this has been extended to their first-degree relatives who are in precarious situations,” he added.
“Spain, with our current foreign policy, is and will always be a home to our Latin American brothers and sisters who defend freedom and democracy,” said the minister during an address to the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Spanish Congress on October 4, 2024.
The Ortega regime released and exiled 135 political prisoners from Nicaragua to Guatemala in September. This was the fifth release and banishment of political prisoners carried out by the Ortega regime since February 2023, although it is the first time they did not release an official list. Two days after the release, the regime also ordered the unconstitutional revocation of their nationality and the confiscation of their assets, without disclosing their names.
More Than 120 Have Received Spanish Nationality
In 2023, a total of 317 Nicaraguans were arbitrarily stripped of their nationality by the regime. Among them were 222 individuals who were released and exiled to the United States in February 2023, the Bishop of Matagalpa Rolando Alvarez (exiled in January 2024 to the Vatican), and another 94 intellectuals, journalists, activists, opposition members, lawyers, and human rights defenders, including journalist and director of CONFIDENCIAL, Carlos F. Chamorro.
In February 2023, Foreign Minister Albares had already stated that the Spanish government’s offer extends “to any Nicaraguan citizen who, in the future, may become stateless as a result of Ortega’s decisions.”
The Spanish government also explained that the process used for the application is the granting of Spanish nationality by letter of naturalization to prevent them from remaining stateless.
Furthermore, Albares said that “it is a government decision that would take very little time” and that the process would be “immediate.” In response, several of the released political prisoners exiled to the United States expressed gratitude and said that it would be one of the options for them.
The government of Pedro Sanchez has granted Spanish nationality to 127 Nicaraguans between May 2023 and July 2024, according to resolutions published in the Official State Bulletin.
The granting of Spanish nationality to Nicaraguans has been done by letter of naturalization, an exceptional and much faster procedure than the usual channels, to prevent these individuals from remaining stateless for long.