The US and Guatemala governments announced on Thursday that Nicaragua has launched 135 political prisoners on humanitarian grounds after months of negotiations between the US and Nicaragua. The US additionally facilitated the voluntary switch of political prisoners from Nicaragua to Guatemala.
In a joint assertion, the US and Guatemala clarified that the launched political prisoners embrace human rights defenders, non secular leaders and laypeople. The assertion famous that each nations, together with US humanitarian companions, will briefly present the launched prisoners with medical help, meals and lodging to assist them rebuild their lives. Moreover, the launched prisoners can have the chance to use for entry to the US or different states by lawful pathways whereas in Guatemala.
The US and Guatemala highlighted the importance of human rights and basic freedoms of their assertion, writing:
The [US] and Guatemala reaffirm the rights of all individuals to take pleasure in human rights and basic freedoms, together with the rights to freedom of thought, conscience [] and faith or perception and to freedom of expertise, affiliation [] and peaceable meeting. We underscore {that a} risk to democracy anyplace is a risk to democracy in all places. Everybody has the duty to guard those that defend democracy and human rights the world over. The [US] and Guatemala will proceed to face in solidarity with the Nicaraguan folks and all who peacefully search to have their voices heard.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken additional addressed the state of affairs, stating that the launched political prisoners had been unjustly detained by Nicaragua for exercising their basic rights to free expression, peaceable meeting and faith or perception. He wrote:
[Nicaraguan President] Daniel Ortega, [Nicaraguan Vice President] Rosario Murillo [] and their associates proceed to violate human rights, stifle respectable dissent, jail opponents, seize their property [] and stop residents from reentering their residence nation. We urge the quick and unconditional launch of all political prisoners … in Nicaragua. The Nicaraguan folks need and deserve a restored democracy the place all can train their human rights and basic freedoms, free from worry of persecution or reprisal.
The US embassy in Guatemala additionally urged Nicaragua to right away stop detaining residents for exercising their basic freedoms and recommended Guatemala for agreeing to host the launched prisoners.
This launch follows the same occasion on February 9, 2023, when the US welcomed 222 released political prisoners from Nicaragua. The US Division of State heralded their arrival as a “constructive step in the direction of addressing human rights abuses” in Nicaragua. A Biden administration official instructed the New York Times that officers for Ortega and US President Joe Biden negotiated the prisoners’ launch.
Relatedly, a UN report released earlier on Tuesday decried the deteriorating human rights state of affairs in Nicaragua between June 15, 2023, and June 15 of this 12 months. The Workplace of the Excessive Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) documented widespread rights violations, together with circumstances of unfair trials, inhumane circumstances and torture, all in breach of Nicaragua’s obligations underneath the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
Source / Picture: jurist.org
