“Long live free Nicaragua,” Francisco Arteaga, one of 135 political prisoners in Nicaragua freed through U.S. mediation, said with a thumbs-up as he arrived in Guatemala on Thursday.
From the window of a yellow bus, at the exit of the international airport of the capital Guatemala, Francisco Arteaga assures with a smile that he feels “very good” since his release. “Thank God for being free,” adds the man dressed in a beige shirt.
The political detainees landed at dawn at La Aurora airport, where they were greeted by staff from the center responsible for receiving the hundreds of Guatemalan migrants expelled each week from the United States and Mexico.
The group then boarded several buses to be taken to reception centres.
The release of the political detainees was obtained through mediation by Washington with the government of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, the White House announced, specifying that they will be offered the possibility of traveling legally to the United States or other countries.
Among them were students, Catholics and 13 members of a Texas Christian missionary organization, Mountain Gateway.
Mr Arteaga said he was imprisoned “for spreading on social media the measures taken by the government against the Catholic Church”.
– “Mixture of feelings” –
Images released by Guatemalan authorities show the detainees being released as they get off the plane. One of them appears in a wheelchair.
In addition to local authorities, the group was supported by staff from the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and officials from the United States Embassy in Guatemala.
“I am happy, I thank the Lord,” says a woman from the window of another bus. “Long live free Nicaragua. God bless Nicaragua. Nicaragua will be free soon,” adds the woman in a red blouse.
“Our country has demonstrated its firm commitment to democracy (…) Today we reaffirm this commitment and return the favor to the international solidarity that we have benefited from so many times, by welcoming 135 Nicaraguan brothers, freed political prisoners,” wrote Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo on X.
“Thank you, thank you Guatemala,” says another of the released prisoners, waving through the window to the journalists present.
“It’s a mixture of feelings. Joy, sadness and also worry,” Nicaraguan Santos Méndez, in exile in Guatemala since 2018, a year of major protests against the regime of Daniel Ortega, told AFP.
“They are leaving their country in conditions that no one can imagine and they are also leaving their families behind,” he laments, while saying he is happy about their release.
“We know that in Guatemala they will find the right migratory conditions to determine the best destination” for them, assures Félix Maradiaga, a Nicaraguan opponent exiled in the United States, to AFP.
