Nicaragua seizes properties of exiled businessman 

The regime of Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua confiscated the properties of a prominent businessman living in exile after he was declared a “traitor” to his country. 

The businessman, Piero Coen Ubilla, said in a statement on Friday that all of his properties in the country that were registered under his name or his wife's were raided and seized by Nicaraguan police on Friday morning. 

Coen Ubilla, CEO of the business conglomerate Grupo Coen, was stripped of his Nicaraguan citizenship last year after the regime claimed that he was a “traitor” to his country during a sham trial at the end of March. He fled the country and sought refuge in Guatemala. 

The businessman has been an outspoken critic of the Ortega regime since 2018, when anti-government protests swept the country and left more than 300 dead and several hundred others in prison, according to human rights organizations. 

In addition to confiscating all of Coen Ubilla’s real estate, the government also seized his stakes in several Nicaraguan companies, reported Reuters. 

Coen Ubilla, 54, said he had "not been part of any legal process, nor been informed of any kind of process which would justify" the regime taking away his property.

"I can assure you all, there is no crime of which I can be accused, much less a crime against my country or Nicaraguan society," Coen added.

In recent years, the Ortega regime has conducted a widespread crackdown against opposition politicians, non-governmental organizations, news outlets, and the Catholic Church, among others.. However, the measures taken against Coen are the first incident of the regime targeting a prominent businessman in the country. 

Earlier this year, Ortega released 200 political prisoners and sent them to the United States in several flights, after stripping them of their citizenship.