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The White House said Thursday it has secured the release of 135 political prisoners in Nicaragua, including members of a Texas-based ministry that was caught up in a crackdown on nonprofits and religious groups by authoritarian ruler Daniel Ortega and his wife, Rosario Murillo.
National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said all of the released prisoners are Nicaraguan citizens. They include 13 members of the Texas-based Mountain Gateway organization, Catholic laypersons and students.
They had been detained because Mr. Ortega and his regime viewed them as “a threat to their authoritarian rule,” Mr. Sullivan said.
Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo agreed to accept the released Nicaraguans.
They will be able to apply for the right to “rebuild their lives” in the U.S. or other countries through President Biden’s Safe Mobility Office initiative, according to Mr. Sullivan.
Mr. Sullivan said Mr. Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris “are grateful to President Arévalo for his continued leadership across the region in addressing humanitarian issues and championing democratic freedom.”
“The United States again calls on the government of Nicaragua to immediately cease the arbitrary arrest and detention of its citizens for merely exercising their fundamental freedoms,” he said.
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