(Reuters) – Nicaragua’s government said on Tuesday it had stripped the nationality of 135 Nicaraguans who were released from prison last week and then deported to Guatemala, and ordered the confiscation of their property.
The Central American nation’s Supreme Court said the people had been convicted of crimes related to attacks on the “sovereignty, independence and self-determination of the Nicaraguan people.”
It said that the confiscation of their assets was a way of compensating for the damage caused by their “criminal activities.”
The released prisoners include 13 members of the Texas-based Mountain Gateway missionary organization, Catholic laypeople and students, according to White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan.
The White House had requested that Nicaragua release the prisoners on humanitarian grounds. The U.S. said on Monday it did not give any concessions to Nicaragua in exchange for the release.
Nicaragua’s last mass exodus of political prisoners took place in February last year, when 222 prisoners – including leading government critics – were sent to the United States and stripped of their nationality.
(Reporting by Mexico City newsroom; Editing by Sandra Maler)
