MEXICO CITY, Nov 29 (Reuters) – Nicaraguan authorities released about 40 political prisoners on Saturday, two activists in the Central American country told Reuters.
Those who were released will remain under house arrest and be required to report regularly to the police, they said.
Alfredo Gutierrez, coordinator of the Liberales Nicaragua party, which is based outside of Nicaragua, said the activist Jose Alejandro Hurtado was among the released prisoners. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights reported that Hurtado was arrested in January.
Ana Margarita Vijil, from the opposition party Unamos, said her organization knew about the release of “about 40 people” and that many of their families hadn’t seen them for months “or even years.”
Rosario Murillo, who currently shares Nicaragua’s presidency with her husband, Daniel Ortega, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Nicaragua’s authoritarian government has overseen a crackdown on political dissent in recent years. According to opposition groups, more than 70 “political prisoners” in the country were imprisoned before Saturday’s release, among them social activists and student leaders.
In 2023, Nicaragua freed more than 200 political prisoners who were then flown to the U.S. They included five former candidates who challenged Ortega, the incumbent, in the 2021 presidential election. The U.S. and other Western nations condemned Ortega’s reelection in that campaign as illegitimate.
(Additional reporting by Leila Miller and Diego Ore Oviedo; Editing by Nia Williams and Paul Simao)
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