Nicaragua’s President Daniel Ortega has consolidated his energy since well-liked protests erupted in 2018.

INTI OCON/AFP by way of Getty Pictures

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INTI OCON/AFP by way of Getty Pictures

Nicaragua’s President Daniel Ortega has consolidated his energy since well-liked protests erupted in 2018.

INTI OCON/AFP by way of Getty Pictures

MEXICO CITY — In its persevering with crackdown on dissent, Nicaragua has stripped 94 individuals of their citizenship.

On state TV, Appeals Court docket Justice Ernesto Rodríguez Mejía mentioned Wednesday the 94 Nicaraguans have been declared traitors. Rodríguez Mejía didn’t say whether or not the Nicaraguans have been tried, however he mentioned they have been now “fugitives of the legislation,” sentenced to a civil demise — dropping all of their rights, their property and their citizenship for all times.

The checklist contains human rights defenders, journalists and two of Nicaragua’s most outstanding writers — the poet Gioconda Belli and novelist Sergio Ramírez.

Vilma Núñez, essentially the most outstanding human rights defender in Nicaragua, was additionally denationalized.

This comes simply days after Nicaragua banished 222 political prisoners. They have been placed on a airplane to the US and stripped of their citizenship, underneath a brand new legislation that seeks to overwrite a constitutional ban on denationalization.

Analysts say this marks a deepening authoritarianism in Nicaragua. Since well-liked protests erupted in 2018, President Daniel Ortega has consolidated his energy.

The Worldwide Federation for Human Rights mentioned this transfer constituted a “clear assault towards civil society and human rights defenders within the nation.”