Washington (United States) (AFP) - The organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) warned this Friday that at least eight Nicaraguan dissidents, who were stripped of their nationality, could suffer "persecution and torture" in their country if the United States deports them back.

First modification: 02/10/2026 - 14:54

Nicaragua, governed with an iron fist by Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo, tightened social control after the 2018 protests, which left some 300 dead according to the UN, and recently approved a reform that prevents the electoral participation of parties opposed to the government.

The warning coincides with a meeting on the political situation in Nicaragua of the foreign ministers in the Organization of American States (OAS), from which they withdrew in November 2023 amid diplomatic pressure due to the authoritarian drift of Ortega and Murillo.

On Thursday, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) and the United Nations Group of Human Rights Experts on Nicaragua urged the foreign ministers to focus the meeting on human rights, democracy and the reestablishment of the rule of law in the country.

The OAS does not have the power to impose sanctions. It can only urge countries to take individual action against what it sees as deviations from the democratic norm.

According to the humanitarian organization, the people were detained by US immigration authorities despite the fact that some have pending asylum applications.

Seven are part of the 222 political prisoners that the Nicaraguan government stripped of their nationality and expelled to the United States by declaring them "traitors."

The US government granted them humanitarian parole for two years.

The eighth person is the journalist Luis Galeano, also stripped of his nationality in February 2023, along with 93 other opponents. The communicator regained his freedom on Saturday.

"After offering refuge to these critics of the Nicaraguan government just three years ago, the United States is now detaining them and threatening to deport them," said Juanita Goebertus, Americas director at HRW.

The activist explained that international law "prohibits the United States from returning any person to face the threat of persecution or torture."

"US authorities should not try to send these men back into danger," he said.

© 2026 AFP

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