These are 131 of 135 Nicaraguans Released from Prison and Banished to Guatemala

The Ortega dictatorship released and banished 135 political prisoners from Nicaragua to Guatemala on September 5, 2024. This is the fifth release and banishment of political prisoners that the Ortega dictatorship has carried out since February 2023, but this is the first time it has not disclosed an official list. 

The dictatorship even ordered the unconstitutional annulment of their nationality and the confiscation of their assets, without detailing their names. CONFIDENCIAL has managed to independently verify the identity of 131 of 135 people released from prison and banished to Guatemala while the dictatorship continues to conceal the list.

The governments of Guatemala and the United States, which are assisting these exiled political prisoners, claim that disclosing this information is the responsibility of Nicaragua. But no authority, neither Vice President and spokesperson Rosario Murillo – who has a monologue from Monday to Friday in the official media – nor Daniel Ortega – who has had two public appearances since then – have disclosed the list. In fact, Ortega, and Murillo have not said a single word on the matter.

The Mechanism for the Recognition of Political Prisoners of Nicaragua, which has followed the situation of prisoners of conscience in the country for years, approached each of the exiled individuals in Guatemala to understand their conditions after months or years of imprisonment.

“Our team carried out an exhaustive verification process to identify the people recently banished from Nicaragua to Guatemala. After a rigorous analysis, we were able to confirm the identity of 132 of 135 people banished,” the Mechanism said in its latest official statement on the issue, published on September 7.

The Mechanism detailed that of those 132 people, 114 were verified with its official list of political prisoners. Meanwhile, another 18 banished persons do not appear on the organization's list.

“Due to the sensitive circumstances and security considerations surrounding this data, we have decided not to publish the complete list,” the Mechanism argued, thus ruling out the publication of its independent and verified list of those banished to Guatemala.

The 151 political prisoners as of July 2024

Prior to the release and banishment of 135 people to Guatemala, the Mechanism's latest list - closed as of July 31 - listed 151 people detained for political reasons in Nicaragua.

That list of 151 also includes 10 political prisoners prior to the April 2018 Rebellion, when the Ortega dictatorship began to fill the jails with prisoners of conscience, first for their participation in the citizen protests of that year, and then for exercising their rights of expression and association, established in the Political Constitution, but persecuted under the de facto police state imposed in September 2018.

Among the 141 political prisoners imprisoned after the outbreak of the 2018 citizen protests, the Mechanism identified in its report as of July 2024: 116 men and 25 women.

Of the 141 political prisoners following the 2018 protests, only 103 were identified with their first and last names, gender, age, municipality and department of origin, date of capture, judicial status (indicted or convicted) and the prison where they were being held.

Another 38 (32 men and 6 women) were only listed as anonymous, with their gender and age.

In each of its latest reports, the Mechanism has also indicated that “there is an underreporting of the total number of people imprisoned for political reasons in Nicaragua, due to the lack of access to public information and as a consequence of the environment of repression and threats derived from the police state that prevails in the country,” as many families choose not to report detentions or not to include their relatives on the list, for fear of political reprisals.

With this latest list from the Mechanism, any independent review could only aim to identify those exiled to Guatemala among the 103 listed political prisoners, considering that 38 others were anonymous and the other 10 were imprisoned before 2018 and remain in prison. However, the numbers vary due to at least three factors:

1. First, after the exile, the identities of several political prisoners who were not on that list of 103 identified inmates have been revealed. These could be part of the 38 who were listed as "anonymous" or were part of the underreporting of detentions.
2. At least 18 exiled individuals were not on the list as of July 2024, as recognized by the Mechanism. This could also be partly due to underreporting of detentions or because some did not recognize themselves as prisoners of conscience.
3. Not all political prisoners from Nicaragua were released and exiled, according to a new list from the Mechanism updated in September 2024 after their review process in Guatemala.

The 36 political prisoners after the exile to Guatemala

On September 9, the Mechanism published a list of 36 political prisoners who remain in Nicaragua's penitentiary systems. Among these 36 individuals are:

• 10 political prisoners from before the April 2018 Rebellion, who have been incarcerated since May 2011 and mid-2014.
• 15 political prisoners imprisoned between July 2019 and February 2024, all of whom were fully identified in the July list, including the two Miskito leaders from the indigenous Yatama party.
• 8 forest rangers from the Mayangna ethnic group, detained for defending against the invasion of indigenous territories, who were convicted of alleged organized crime offenses. Although the status of these eight individuals is public, and there are campaigns for their release, their names were not included in the July list and were only added in September.
• 3 individuals detained in May 2022, and in June and July 2024, who were not identified in the July list. In these three cases, the Mechanism has not clarified whether they were among the anonymous political prisoners or if their detentions were still pending verification. However, according to CONFIDENCIAL's review, at least two were previously listed as "anonymous."

Why is it not so simple to compile a list?

Officials from the governments of Guatemala and the United States have separately stated that the publication of the official list of released political prisoners is the responsibility of Nicaragua. However, the Ortega regime remains silent on the issue and is hiding the list, despite the fact that after the exile, the dictatorship continued its repression by ordering the confiscation of their assets and stripping them of their right to nationality, which is non-renounceable according to the Political Constitution of Nicaragua and is an essential human right according to international treaties.

After the release and banishment, some media published partial and unofficial lists of those released and banished to Guatemala, but CONFIDENCIAL verified that many of these included errors with names of people who are still imprisoned or missing, and several of these errors remain uncorrected. Others published a bulky list with unverified and repeated names, or for which there is no verifiable confirmation of their freedom.

CONFIDENCIAL's verification

As long as there is no official list, the Mechanism's list of Nicaraguan political prisoners identified up to July 31, 2024, is the only verified list available for any analysis of the identities of those banished on September 5.

Of the 113 political prisoners identified by the Mechanism, at least 25 names that reappear on the list of 36 political prisoners published in September must be subtracted because they remain in the prisons of Nicaragua's penitentiary system, including the 10 political prisoners prior to 2018.

With this data, the maximum number of people that can be verified with the Mechanism's list is reduced to 88 people. However, the Mechanism assures that in Guatemala it corroborated the identities of 114 exiles with its list of political prisoners.

It is deduced that these other 26 names correspond to part of the anonymous political prisoners or those pending verification in its last list, whose names were not known.

On the other hand, through photographs, videos or testimonies after the exile, we have learned of some thirty exiles who were not identified on the Mechanism's list. Of these, some could be part of the anonymous ones on the organization's list, or part of the 18 that the Mechanism indicates were not on its list.

But after filtering, adding and subtracting, no total reaches one hundred percent of the 135 banished to Guatemala, nor the 132 verified by the Mechanism.

CONFIDENCIAL has traveled to Guatemala twice to talk with exiled former political prisoners. Our teams have spoken with dozens of them. Several have described torture in prison and expressed fear of repression against their relatives in Nicaragua. Others have agreed to interviews without being identified, or have declined to give interviews for now because they still feel very affected by their prolonged imprisonment.

The testimonies of most of the exiled political prisoners confirm the uncontrolled and absurd repression in Nicaragua. Among them are activists, opponents, peasants, students, parishioners, evangelical pastors, citizens or FSLN militants, whose main crime was to express themselves on social networks or even during Eucharist or worship services.

The names verified by CONFIDENCIAL

Through testimonies, photographs or videos in CONFIDENCIAL, other media and social networks, we have managed to verify a list of exiles with the list of political prisoners identified by the Mechanism as of July 2024. For this verification we discarded cases in which only names and surnames are mentioned, without any photo, video or supporting testimony.

Similarly, we have compiled a list of banished persons who were not identified in the Mechanism's list, either because they were part of the anonymous, part of a sub-registry of detentions or persons who were not recognized or verified in the Mechanism's list of political prisoners.

The following list is organized according to the verification sources used by CONFIDENCIAL, so that our readers have transparent access to our independent verification process. There are other names published in other media, but CONFIDENCIAL has not found a photograph, video or statement confirming their release.

The list of exiled political detainees exiled

As of September 22, CONFIDENCIAL has verified 59 exiles from the list of 88 political prisoners identified by the Mechanism as of July 2024:

1. Douglas Acevedo Castillo
2. Mariví Elieth Andino Ramírez
3. Brenda Lee Baldelomar Alemán
4. Juan Carlos Baquedano
5. Edubhin Sebastián Bermúdez Sevilla
6. Julio Rafael Berrios Noguera
7. Henry A. Blass Guerrero
8. Carlos Alberto Bojorge Martínez
9. Joseling Mayela Campos Silva
10. Víctor Manuel Carranza Espinoza
11. Sergio Catarino Castilblanco Hernández
12. Eddy Antonio Castillo Muñoz
13. Alberto José Centeno Ruiz
14. José Ángel Cerrato García
15. Jonathan Euliezer Cruz Wuaguiz
16. Julio César Dávila Munguía
17. Maricarmen Espinosa Segura
18. Adela Elizabeth Espinoza Tercero
19. Daniel Agustín Garay Serrato
20. Julio José García Guevara
21. Anielka Lucía García Zapata
22. Alex Javier Gómez Bustos
23. Axel Manuel González Garay
24. Pedro José Gutiérrez González
25. Enmanuel de Jesús Gutiérrez Larios
26. Marvin David Gutiérrez Siezar
27. Melba Damaris Hernández
28. Anner Herrera
29. María Verónica Herrera Galeano
30. Franck Kevin Laguna Guevara
31. Reyna Isabel Leiva Chavarría
32. Nelly G. López García
33. Gerald Nicolás López Vásquez
34. Alba Paola Martínez Lira
35. Sergio Aryuren Mena Amador
36. Carlos Alberto Molina Orozco
37. Carlos Ulises Molina Rizo
38. Abdul Montoya Vivas
39. Gabriela Ivonne Morales López
40. Freylin Axareal Moreno Ponce
41. Olesia Auxiliadora Muñoz Pavon
42. Jeffrey José Ortega Orozco
43. Salvador Alfonso Paguaga Altamirano
44. Oscar Danilo Parrilla Blandón
45. Freddy Antonio Quezada
46. Crescencio Salvador Ramírez Andino
47. Fanor Alejandro Ramos
48. Martha Candelaria Rivas Hernández
49. Jaqueline de Jesús Rodríguez Herrera
50. Isaías Javier Ruiz
51. José Manuel Ruiz Sánchez
52. Jasson Noel Salazar Rugama
53. Manuel Antonio Sánchez
54. Marcos Antonio Sánchez Hidalgo
55. José Enrique Sánchez Núñez
56. Santos Julio Sevilla Rivera
57. Lester Antonio Solís Paniagua
58. Víctor Ticay Ruiz
59. Adolfo Yoel Vega Rodríguez

Through other people released from prison and exiled to Guatemala, CONFIDENCIAL has also been able to verify the identities of 22 political prisoners, whose names coincide with the list of the Mechanism. These persons are:

1. Jimmy Antonio Bonilla Gutiérrez
2. Erickson Antonio Calero Díaz
3. José Antonio Castillo
4. Jordan Antonio Castillo Miranda
5. Juan Bruno Centeno Espinoza
6. Martha Lorena Centeno Marín
7. Wilmer Duarte Murillo
8. Wilmer Augusto Duarte Duarte
9. Tayron Enrique García Tapia
10. José Alberto Gutiérrez
11. Maycol Jhon Herrera Gutiérrez
12. Samuel Jonathan Hueck
13. Gustavo Daniel Malespin Sánchez
14. Hazel del Socorro Martínez Ulloa
15. Ramón Mena Matus
16. Henry Salomón Muñoz
17. Edder Oniel Muñoz Centeno
18. Cristóbal Lorenzo Ramos Olivas
19. Cándido Sánchez López
20. Juan Carlos Sánchez Obando
21. Juan Pablo Torres Morales
22. Javier Danilo Zapata Jiménez

Also the Grupo de Reflexión Excarcelados Políticos (GREX) confirmed to CONFIDENCIAL that among those released and banished are the following people. Our team verified that they were identified as political prisoners in the Mechanism's list:

1. Axel Javier Balladares Merlo
2. Kevin Emilio Castillo Prado
3. Misael de Jesús Escorcia Rugama
4. Juan Ramón Mena Galarza / Garza
5. Raúl Enrique Robles

Other persons released from prison and banished to Guatemala

As of September 20, CONFIDENCIAL has also constructed a verified list of more than 30 people released from prison and banished to Guatemala, although their names were not on the Mechanism's list as of July 2024.

Among these are pastors and lawyers from Puerta de la Montaña, an evangelical group cancelled and confiscated in Nicaragua:

1. Walner Omier Blandón Ochoa
2. Marisela de Fátima Mejía Ruiz
3. José Luis Orozco Urrutia
4. Álvaro Daniel Escobar Cabrera
5. Juan Carlos Chavarría Zapata
6. Marcos Sergio Hernández Jirón
7. Juan Luis Moncada
8. Orvin Alexis Moncada Castellano
9. Harry Lening Ríos Bravo
10. Manuel de Jesús Ríos Flores
11. César Facundo Burgalin Miranda
12. Isabel Cristina Acevedo Solís

*The thirteenth name in this case is the lawyer Maricarmen Espinosa Segura, who was already mentioned in the previous list, because she was identified in the Mechanism's list.

Other persons released and banished to Guatemala who were not identified in the Mechanism's list, but have been verified by photographs, videos or testimonies in CONFIDENCIAL, other media or social networks are:

1. Darling González
2. Eduardo José Rodríguez Argüello
3. Elvis Josué Siles Chavarría
4. Francisco Arteaga Zamora
5. Freydell Andino
6. Gabriel Chavarría Flores
7. Geovany López Acevedo
8. Jared Ramírez
9. Juan Bautista García
10. Juan Isidro García
11. Julio Otoniel Pérez Canales
12. Lester Danilo Morales Madriz
13. Mario Alberto Iglesias Pereira
14. Rubén Ismael Ney Téllez
15. Yostin Selva Mairena
16. Shalon Adriana Zapata Reyes

The GREX also confirmed to CONFIDENCIAL the release and banishment of other persons who are not identified with their data in the Mechanism's list. CONFIDENCIAL verified that at least the first two persons on that list would correspond to anonymous cases on the Mechanism's list, because complaints about their political persecution and arbitrary imprisonment and judicial proceedings were confirmed in April 2023. The third is a Sandinista journalist detained in April 2024, for promoting religious processions prohibited by the government. However, our team did not find similar allegations in the rest of the cases on this list.

1. Ivonne Espinoza Hurtado
2. Luis Enrique Obando Palma
3. Obed Bejarano
4. Rolando Ismael Guerrero Medina
5. Alexander Antonio López Pilarte
6. José Luis López Pilarte
7. Harvy Manuel Calero Rivera
8. Deyvy Alexander Conde
9. Fernando Noel Martínez Lira
10. Axel Guevara Fernández 
11. Ludwing Esterling González Mendoza
12. Lesbia Nery Vega Corea
13. Bismark Alberto Calero
14. Kevin Alexander Flores
15. Carlos José González Rivera
16. Ángel Alemán Barahona
17. Sonia González Salgado

Invitation to our audience

With these verifications, CONFIDENCIAL has managed to independently confirm a total of 131 of 135 people released from prison and banished to Guatemala.

The CONFIDENCIAL team continues its work of verification on the political ex-prisoners banished to Guatemala and trying to talk to them to know their testimonies of civic resistance even in their days in prison.

In CONFIDENCIAL we believe in the right to truthful information, which includes the freedom to seek, receive and disseminate information and ideas, as established in the Constitution of Nicaragua.

We believe in the need to make transparent the list of political prisoners exiled to Guatemala despite the silence of the Ortega dictatorship, and the decision of the governments of Guatemala and the United States and the Mechanism for the Recognition of Political Prisoners of Nicaragua, not to publish the list.

If you wish to provide any evidence or information on the political prisoners exiled to Guatemala, in order to build an independent and verified (although unofficial) list, please write to [email protected].

This article was published in Spanish in Confidencial and translated by our staff. To get the most relevant news from our English coverage delivered straight to your inbox, subscribe to The Dispatch.