On Monday, February 20, the president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro Urrego, (through a trill on his official account) expressed solidarity with 94 Nicaraguans who lost their nationality because they are branded as “coup plotters” by the Daniel Ortega regime.
In the first part of the trill, the president of Colombia pointed out that he has always insisted that Latin America must be a space free of political or social prisoners, apparently making reference to the reports of different NGOs that have already denounced the Daniel Ortega regime. for having imprisoned political opponents or citizens who do not agree with their ideology.
“I reiterate Latin America must be a space without political prisoners and without social prisoners,” he said in the first part of the trill.
In a second part, President Gustavo Petro Urrego pointed out that the abusive treatment and violation of Human Rights that take place in Nicaragua on behalf of the Daniel Ortega regime must be condemned without ideological distinction.
“Any violation of human rights must be condemned by the entire international community,” stressed the president of Colombia on the morning of Monday, February 20, 2023.
And he added in that same trill: “My solidarity with the 94 Nicaraguans who were stripped of their nationality,” emphasizing that nothing warrants the removal of a civilian’s citizenship.
According to the information shared by the senator of the Democratic Center, Paloma Valencia, in a circular sent on Monday, February 13, 2023, by the Superintendency of Notaries and Registry, officials were authorized to request permission, in writing or verbally, to attend the demonstrations on February 14. Colombian Senate.
It should be noted that President Gustavo Petro had tried to stay out of the conflict that exists in this Central American country due to the tense relations between the two nations, above all, due to the dispute that exists with Nicaragua over the waters of San Andrés and Providence.
Even a couple of months ago it was pointed out that the Colombian Foreign Ministry had started negotiations so that opponents of Daniel Ortega were released.
The UN says that stripping Nicaraguans of their nationality is against International Law
The UN expressed its deep concern about the legislative reforms in Nicaragua that allowed the Ortega regime to strip more than 300 dissidents of their citizenship, warning that the measure is in violation of international law.
“Recent legislative reforms in Nicaragua that allow for the stripping of citizenship for arbitrary reasons are contrary to Nicaragua’s obligations under international and regional human rights law,” the UN refugee agency said.
“International law prohibits the arbitrary deprivation of nationality, including for racial, ethnic, religious or political reasons,” it said.
The statement came after a Nicaraguan court under dictator Daniel Ortega this week stripped 94 exiled dissidents of their nationality and declared them “traitors to the homeland.”
Among those affected are Nicaragua’s most acclaimed author, Sergio Ramírez, who was once Ortega’s vice president; a Catholic bishop, Silvio Báez; and several former Ortega comrades in arms in the left-wing Sandinista Front that came to power in 1979, only to lose the 1990 election.
The same measure was applied to 222 dissidents, who were released from jail and expelled last week, and had their citizenship stripped by the Ortega regime after boarding them on a flight to Washington.
Ortega returned to power after the 2007 elections. Since large-scale street protests against his rule broke out in 2018, Ortega has employed heavily armed paramilitary squads to crush the opposition and has jailed all major opposition figures.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has expressed “serious concern” about the “arbitrary” withdrawal of nationality from more than 300 Nicaraguan opponents and has warned that this type of measure increases the risk of statelessness. with Infobae