{"id":321934,"date":"2026-01-12T11:01:30","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T03:01:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=321934"},"modified":"2026-01-12T11:01:30","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T03:01:30","slug":"nicaragua-frees-tens-of-political-prisoners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=321934","title":{"rendered":"Nicaragua frees &#8216;tens&#8217; of political prisoners"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img src=\"https:\/\/www.bssnews.net\/assets\/news_photos\/2026\/01\/11\/image-350015-1768109996.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>SAN JOSE, Jan 12 (NNN-AGENCIES) &#8212; Nicaragua&#8217;s authoritarian government said it had freed &#8220;tens&#8221; of detainees, following US pressure and a week after American forces seized Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, a close Managua ally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Tens of people who were in the national penitentiary system have gone home to their families,&#8221; the government said in a statement published online, calling it a gesture to commemorate 19 years of rule by President Daniel Ortega, 80.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On Friday, the US embassy in Nicaragua posted a statement on X that hailed a promised release of political prisoners in Venezuela.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It said that in Nicaragua, however, &#8220;more than 60 people remain unjustly detained or disappeared.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Peace is only possible with freedom!&#8221; the embassy said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>State media in Nicaragua published images on Saturday of detainees signing release papers and embracing relatives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The statement did not identify those freed or explain the reasons for their detention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>An NGO and exiled media reported Friday that at least 61 people had been arrested for celebrating or supporting the capture of Maduro, a close ally of Ortega and his wife, co-president Rosario Murillo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Maduro was seized by US troops in Caracas a week ago and taken to New York to face drug trafficking charges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The US State Department has branded the Murillo-Ortega government a dictatorship, accusing it of seizing total power with a constitutional rewrite and crushing dissent since unrest during 2018 protests that left 300 people dead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Today, the brutal Murillo-Ortega dictatorship &#8216;celebrates&#8217; 19 years of what should have been a five-year democratic term,&#8221; the State Department&#8217;s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs posted Saturday on X.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Nicaraguans voted for a president in 2006, not for an illegitimate lifelong dynasty,&#8221; it added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to opposition reports, with Ortega facing mounting health issues, 74-year-old Murillo has launched an internal purge to ensure she retains power. &#8212; NNN-AGENCIES<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SAN JOSE, Jan 12 (NNN-AGENCIES) &#8212; Nicaragua&#8217;s authoritarian government said it had freed &#8220;tens&#8221; of detainees, following US pressure and a week after American forces seized Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, a close Managua ally. &#8220;Tens of people who were in the national penitentiary system have gone home to their families,&#8221; the government said in a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[208],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321934"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=321934"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321934\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":321936,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321934\/revisions\/321936"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=321934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=321934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=321934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}