Spain: they will give citizenship to another 94 Nicaraguans expelled from their country

After the Spanish authorities granted citizenship to 222 Nicaraguan political prisoners, the government of Pedro Sánchez has extended the proposal to another 94 Nicaraguans who will receive citizenship after being expelled from their country by Daniel Ortega’s regime.

The Spanish Foreign Ministry reported this on Friday, when it issued a statement to make said offer to those who were declared “traitors to the country” by the Sandinistas.

“The Spanish government has extended the offer of Spanish nationality to the last 94 Nicaraguan citizens whose nationality has been withdrawn,” the document reads.

It indicates that the Foreign Minister, José Manuel Albares, communicated this decision to the writer and former vice president of Nicaragua, Sergio Ramírez, an important figure in the opposition to President Daniel Ortega.

Ramírez, who appears in the list of 94 Nicaraguans deprived of citizenship, is one of refugees who have been in Madrid since 2021 and has dual nationality: Spanish and Nicaraguan.

The list of beneficiaries also includes the writer Gioconda Belli, the Catholic bishop Silvio Báez, the former guerrilla commanders Luis Carrión and Mónica Baltodano and the human rights activist Vilma Núñez.

In this sense, the Spanish ministry also remarked that it is determined to grant Spanish nationality “to any citizen of Nicaragua who in the future could be left stateless due to the decisions of the government of Daniel Ortega”.

The harsh criticisms of the UN for the Nicaraguan authorities

Regarding the situation that thousands of Nicaraguans are going through, the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) issued a statement criticizing Nicaragua’s measures to deprive dissidents of their nationality.

“The most recent legislative reforms that allow for the arbitrary deprivation of citizenship violate the obligations this country has under international and regional human rights law,” he said.