NewsLatin AmericaFrom a jail in Nicaragua direct to the US, the unexpected trip of the freed opponents

From a jail in Nicaragua direct to the US, the unexpected trip of the freed opponents

The last hours that more than 200 have lived former political prisoners who arrived in the United Statesafter being released in Nicaragua, have been completely incredible and even surreal, according to what opponents have narrated after their arrival in Washington.

“This is like a dream, I can’t believe all this is happening,” Juan Sebastián Chamorro, a Nicaraguan economist, businessman and politician, told reporters, hours away from hugging his wife and daughter for the first time in one year and eight months.

The release has been a “complete surprise”, he added.

“They arrived at the cell, they changed our clothes and everything happened, very slowly, and that caught our attention, that things were happening at dawn, something that had never happened. Later, we were placed in a cell, with another 25 of our companions, something that had never happened either… and then we were put on a bus”, recalls Chamorro.

He affirms that they were never told where they were going, but that they were transferred through Managua and, although they passed in front of the courts, thinking that it was their final destination, they continued straight.

Chamorro ruled out options, only two remained: “the ‘Model Prison’ -and that meant much more jail time- and the airport.” Finally, it was the second option.

From a hotel near the Washington-Dulles International Airport, in statements to the press, the former Nicaraguan presidential candidate Félix Maradiaga said he realized the release “at the door of the plane”, after signing a document that corroborated that they left “voluntarily”. of the country, and that, being guarded by a strong security system, at no time were they aware of any details of a possible negotiation or release.

When he met other freed compatriots on the plane, he recalls that “it was a moment of many emotions, we sang the Nicaraguan anthem.”

Now, he perceives “a rather bittersweet situation” for leaving his country unexpectedly, but he does not hide the happiness of being with the family, especially with his wife, his daughter – whom he left when he was six years old – and his mother.

A feeling shared by Denis Antonio García, who at the time of speaking with the voice of america He still did not believe what he was experiencing: “I expected death. Being here talking to these cameras, this for me is a miracle from God because I thought they were going to kill me”.

But not everything is rosy. His feeling is also nostalgic, as the vet explained, in a broken voice, that he left his parents, his son and his wife in Nicaragua and that, since he was imprisoned in October 2019, the hardest thing was to see his wife suffer. family. “You are in prison, you put up with everything for them. But seeing your mother crying, carrying everything for you… the family also suffers”.

The government of Daniel Ortega released 222 political prisoners on Thursday, with the facilitation of the United States, according to White House and State Department sources. However, Ortega himself denied that there had been contacts between the two governments: “There has been no negotiation here, let it be clear.”

[Con la colaboración de Karen Sánchez, de la VOA, desde Bogotá]

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Source: VOA Español

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