The U.S. government has confirmed the reception of 222 people «unjustly» imprisoned in Nicaragua «for exercising their fundamental freedoms» and has claimed that this measure «opens the door to greater dialogue» with the Central American country, with which Washington barely maintains relations to date.
It is «a constructive step toward resolving human rights abuses» in Nicaragua, said U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a statement, in the first official reaction from Joe Biden’s administration shortly after the plane landed.
U.S. authorities will offer medical and legal assistance to these people, who have arrived at a Washington airport on a charter flight. «What happened today is a result of U.S. diplomacy and we will continue to support the Nicaraguan people,» Blinken pledged.
Hours earlier, the Nicaraguan regime confirmed in a court ruling the «immediate» deportation of these 222 people, in an unprecedented release that comes after years of complaints from human rights organizations. Repression in Nicaragua became particularly evident after the 2018 protests and in the months leading up to the 2021 elections.
The Nicaraguan National Assembly has also approved this Thursday a reform of the Constitution by which it agrees that people classified as «traitors to the homeland», a category that would include all dissidents transferred to the United States, will not have the right to nationality.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
