USA Demands Nicaragua Release all Political Prisoners
and do so in an “unconditional” manner
“Freedom means putting an end to the regime’s cycle of repression,” says Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs.
HAVANA TIMES – The United States demanded on January 17, 2026 that the Government of Nicaragua, directed by the spouses and co-presidents Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo, whom it labeled an “illegitimate” and “paranoid regime”, unconditionally release all political prisoners, following the release on January 10, 2026 of at least 24 dissidents and critics of the Sandinista executive.
“We demand the unconditional release of all political prisoners, without exceptions, without house arrest, without new detentions,” the United States Department of State’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs demanded through its social media.
“Freedom means putting an end to the regime’s cycle of repression,” continued that bureau, which is attached to the State Department, in a message shared by the US Embassy in Managua on its social media accounts.
The Government of Nicaragua announced on January 10, 2026 the release of “dozens of people” who had been detained for political reasons, according to humanitarian organizations. The release took place as the government celebrated the 19th anniversary of Ortega’s return to power and amid pressure from the United States.
That conditional release took place one day after the US Embassy in Managua recalled that after the “important step” taken by Venezuela to release an undetermined portion of its many hundreds of political prisoners, in Nicaragua there were also “more than 60 people” who remain “unjustly detained or disappeared.”
Nicaragua’s Mechanism for the Recognition of Political Prisoners counted at least 24 political prisoners released on January 10, 2026, including six who were not on the official list of 62 detainees.
The NGO Human Rights Collective for the Historical Memory of Nicaragua warned that those who have been released face a kind of “civil death,” since they are denied access to employment, their mobility is restricted, and they must report daily to the authorities, “meaning they still do not enjoy freedom.”
“Now those release from prison face constant police and paramilitary surveillance, must present themselves daily at police stations in their municipalities of residence, and have their rights to mobility, expression, assembly, and communication with the outside world restricted,” the NGO denounced.
Arrests over giving “likes”
On the other hand, the bureau attached to the State Department criticized the Ortega-Murillo Government for “arresting Nicaraguans for simply giving ‘likes’ to posts on social media.”
That “demonstrates how paranoid the illegitimate Murillo-Ortega regime is,” it stated.
At least 60 Nicaraguans were arbitrarily detained by Nicaragua’s National Police for “expressions of opinion” or “comments on social media” following the US military capture of Nicolas Maduro — an ally of Ortega and Murillo — according to the Blue and White Monitoring, a human rights organization.
In February 2025, Secretary of State Marco Rubio labeled Nicaragua, along with Cuba and Venezuela, as “enemies of humanity,” adding that the Sandinista government “has become a family dynasty with a co-presidency in which they have basically attempted to eliminate the Catholic Church, all religious expression, and anything that could threaten the regime’s power.”
First published in Spanish by Confidencial and translated and posted in English by Havana Times.