Nicaragua releases dozens of prisoners under pressure from the Trump administration | Prison News

Opposition groups say the release was triggered by “political blows” following the US kidnapping of Venezuelan Nicolas Maduro.

Nicaragua’s left-wing government has announced the release of dozens of prisoners following pressure from the administration of US President Donald Trump.

THE government of President Daniel Ortega said in a statement Saturday that “dozens of people who were in the national prison system have returned home to their families.”

The statement did not specify the exact number of people released or whether they were detained for political reasons.

While the government described the move as a gesture to commemorate 19 years of the Ortega government, Nicaragua is under considerable pressure from the United States over its human rights record and a years-long crackdown on opposition leaders and activists.

Saturday’s prisoner release also reflects the growing pressure facing Latin America’s left-wing governments to appease the demands of the Trump administration, which has moved to exercise greater dominance throughout the Americas region.

Tensions have soared since the US military attacked Venezuela on January 3 and kidnapped the country’s president, Nicolas Madurowho faces US charges of narcoterrorism and drug trafficking, which he denies.

On Friday, the US Embassy in Nicaragua welcomed the release of opposition figures in Venezuela after Maduro was removed from power, calling on Ortega’s government to follow suit.

“In Nicaragua, more than 60 people remain unjustly detained or missing, including pastors, religious people, the sick and the elderly. Peace is only possible with freedom!” the embassy posted on social media.

A human rights NGO that tracks political prisoners in Nicaragua identified 19 people released on Saturday, the Reuters news agency reported.

Opposition leader and former prisoner Ana Margarita Vijil told Reuters she did not know the exact number of people released, but said the group included a former mayor, Oscar Gadea, and an evangelical pastor, Rudy Palacios.

Palacios was arrested in July after criticizing the Nicaraguan government for its human rights violations. He had also supported demonstrators who took to the streets to demand Ortega’s removal in 2018.

Ortega responded to these protests with a crackdown that left at least 350 dead and hundreds of arrests.

Liberales Nicaragua, a coalition of opposition groups, welcomed the prisoners’ release on Saturday.

They said in a statement that there was “no doubt” that this was the result of “political pressure exerted by the US government on the dictatorship” and “political defeat movements triggered by events in Venezuela.”