MANAGUA – Nicaragua has released 222 of the 245 opposition prisoners it was holding.
The freed prisoners, who are critics of President Daniel Ortega, were deported to the United States.
The US state department welcomed the move, which it said had been made “unilaterally” by the Nicaraguan government.
Among those freed are opposition politicians who had planned to run against Ortega in the 2021 election but who were jailed in its run-up.
With his fiercest opponents in prison, Ortega won a fourth consecutive term in the election. He has been in power without interruption since 2007.
In an interview for US Spanish language network Telemundo, US President Joe Biden said he did not know whether this meant Nicaragua was ready to change its policies on human rights, but said: “We’re happy to receive them and I’m glad they’re out.” (BBC)
