Banished Nicaraguan Prisoners Await Asylum Short on Funds
Guatemalan authorities have transferred them to more modest lodgings and assigned them 2,000 quetzales (around US $260) for their monthly expenses.
HAVANA TIMES – The 135 prisoners who were released and banished to Guatemala in September 2024 by the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo are still waiting to be relocated to the United States or allowed to assume Spanish nationality as promised by the government of Pedro Sanchez. They state they have no certainty about their migration process, and that each day that passes the resources for their survival in Guatemala City shrink further.
Julio Davila, one of the banished political prisoners, explained that in the fifty days since he was flown to Guatemala, he’s been interviewed three times by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM). Nonetheless, he still doesn’t know if he’ll be admitted to the program known as Safe Mobility Initiative, a measure the US government has implemented, or if he’ll simply be resettled in another country.
“I’ve now gone through the part of the interview that has to do with my family tree; I’ve been through the activism part; I’ve had the interview regarding topics of security; I’ve had some more specific interviews; but now comes the most important part, which has to do with culture,” Davila detailed.
He affirmed that since arriving in Guatemala, most of the 135 banished political prisoners, like himself, have been interviewed by UNHCR and the IOM. However, none of them have been offered any certainty about their cases.
“We don’t know how much time it will take the International Organization for Migration and the US embassy to give us the “okay” we’re waiting for, in order to be able to consider clearly if we’re going to be admitted via a resettlement, or Safe Mobility,” Davila commented.
In Guatemala without Safe Mobility
Due to uncertainty about his migratory situation, former political prisoner Marco Sanchez, also from the group of 135, called the UNHCR offices on October 11th to inquire about his situation. During that call, he was notified that the United States government didn’t admit him into the Safe Mobility program. He’s now considering the offer of nationality that the Government of Spain has extended.
“I spent a month and a half with no information about my situation. It was only on that Friday that they informed me, because I called the UNHCR office to ask,” Sanchez said. The person who took his call merely stated: “Are you Marc Antonio Sanchez? I’m very sorry, the United States has denied you any type of aid and entry into the country.” “They didn’t give me any information why or anything else like that,” he stressed.
Still banished, but with fewer resources
Meanwhile, in Guatemala, every day that passes the resources and support for the banished prisoners shrinks.
This situation led the Guatemalan authorities to relocate them and assign them the sum of 2,000 quetzales [US $258.69] for their living expenses.
Davila recognizes that upon their arrival in Guatemala on September 5, 2024, they were received “in five-star hotels,” and given medical and psychological attention from both the Guatemalan government and humanitarian organizations based in the country. But a month after their arrival, “there was a reassessment.”
“They sent us to more economical lodging places, and they gave us the rules of the game,” explained Davila. Beginning October 5th, “we had to assume the cost of our food, all three meals.” From that time on, we’re getting by with the little that they (the Guatemalan authorities) have favored us with economically – specifically 2,000 quetzales they’ve given us for expenses,” he added.
Marco Sanchez agreed that their stay in Guatemala is increasingly more complicated due to the limited resources, and that ill ex-prisoners like himself, who suffered two strokes in prison, aren’t receiving specialized medical attention.
“Thinking about so many things reactivated my headaches, and I’ve been feeling terrible, terrible. I even had to pay for a glass I broke, because I don’t have proper strength in my hand, and where we are now, if we damage anything or accidentally dirty something, we have to pay for the damages,” Sanchez commented.
Offer from Spain hasn’t yet materialized
Despite the difficulties in Guatemala, Sanchez and Davila have high expectations about the offer to grant them Spanish citizenship that the government of Pedro Sanchez has extended. However, this offer has not yet materialized, and they’re still waiting for further information.
Davila recounted that a few days before, a group of volunteers from the organization Casa Refugio de la Niñez (“Childrens Refuge”) came and put together a list of all those interested in assuming the Spanish nationality, with the objective of taking the names to the Spanish Embassy in Guatemala.
“I imagine that they (the Spanish Embassy) would rather attend to us as a group – put us in an auditorium and give us a full explanation, so that all of the questions can be aired in one place,” he said.
First Published in Spanish by Confidencial and translated and posted in English by Havana Times.