Spain to offer citizenship to freed Nicaraguan political prisoners 

The Spanish government on Friday offered citizenship to the more than 200 Nicaraguan political prisoners who were released earlier this week after Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega stripped them of their legal status.

On Thursday, Nicaraguan authorities released 222 opponents of the regime, including political leaders, students, activists, and priests. Ortega described their release as an effort to expel criminals who sought to destabilize the Central American country. 

Along with their release, Nicaragua’s legislature voted to revoke the citizenship of the 222 released prisoners. Despite requiring a constitutional change to make the decision official, many critics of the regime and opposition raised concerns that the freed prisoners would become stateless. 

The prisoners were put on a plane to Washington, D.C., where they were given a temporary humanitarian visa upon arrival. 

Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares told reporters that Spain had made the decision after they received “reports that proceedings had begun to declare them stateless.” 

Spanish authorities said they would reach out to the freed prisoners to invite them to apply for Spanish citizenship. However, they have not yet shared details of the offer or a timeline for granting the prisoners citizenship. 

Ortega has systematically cracked down on political opponents and critics of the regime, claiming that they are plotting to overthrow him. Additionally, he has closed hundreds of NGOs and civil organizations.  

“Whether this is a token of their demonstration that they’re ready to begin to change the human rights policies or not remains to be seen,” President Joe Biden said in an interview with Telemundo Noticias about the release of the prisoners. “But the fact that they were released, we’re happy to receive them and I’m glad they’re out.”