Thousands More Nicaraguans to Lose Their Citizenship
Not just the politically persecuted
By Circles Robinson
HAVANA TIMES – Nicaragua’s dictators, Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo, have once again found a way to punish the country’s citizens for either challenging their reign or moving abroad for economic and other reasons. They had already stripped nationality from over 450 Nicaraguans for political reasons and had also denied entrance into the country of many more citizens living or visiting abroad.
The new assault on their fellow Nicaraguans came on May 16th, when the National Assembly rushed through a new constitutional amendment ordered by Ortega and Murillo. It strips nationality from all Nicaraguans who have dual citizenship in their adopted countries.
Nicaraguans living abroad with dual citizenship will now be treated as foreigners when they come to the country. Likewise, it strips them of their civil rights in their birthplace country. There are many thousands of Nicaraguans that have dual citizenship and this has never been a problem for them keeping their ties to Nicaragua. Through their efforts, they provide a huge part of the country’s revenue through aiding family members still in the country. Over the years some have returned to live in Nicaragua and often invest any savings from their efforts abroad.
“Nicaraguan nationality will be lost upon acquiring another nationality,” establishes the new Article 25 of the Nicaraguan Constitution”, totally rewritten last year by Ortega and Murillo without any debate or citizen input. The amendment was approved by all 91 of the legislators, the norm for any “requests” of the co-presidents.
Technically, before it takes effect, the amendment needs to be approved a second time by the legislature next year. Whether the authorities will wait to impose the new dictate remains to be seen.
Dora Maria Tellez, an exiled former health minister and Sandinista commander, warns that this “unconstitutional” maneuver, markedly repressive in nature, harms thousands of Nicaraguans, including Sandinistas both inside and outside the country.
Although “it is already known that everything is unconstitutional,” Tellez emphasizes that this latest maneuver by Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo has a repressive spirit and harms thousands of Nicaraguans inside and outside the country, including Sandinistas. The reform affects Articles 23 and 25 of the Magna Carta to establish that Nicaraguans by birth “will lose their nationality” upon acquiring that of another country, reported Despacho 505.
“It’s a dictatorship that goes against everyone; it’s not against its opponents, it’s against everyone,” Tellez stressed.
The extreme levels of repression employed by Ortega and Murillo only reinforce the urgency of “getting them out,” she added.
“With this dictatorship, we’re all left without a homeland for one reason or another, without a homeland with the rule of law. So, what we have to do is get them out of there,” she warns.