MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Chilean, Argentine nationalities available to Nicaraguan stateless expatriates

Argentine Foreign Minister Cafiero insisted the first step should be taken by the interested person at the Argentine Embassy

The Governments of Chile and Argentina are among those who would grant citizenship to the Nicaraguan expatriates who were expelled from their country earlier this month and stripped of their nationality on treason charges, it was reported Tuesday.

Topping the list of those eligible for their new passports are writers Sergio Ramirez and Gioconda Belli.

“The Government of Chile will arbitrate the necessary legal means to offer them due international protection, which will allow them to reside in the country and obtain Chilean nationality, according to the constitutional and legal norms that regulate it,” the Chilean Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Chile is the country in the region that has most strongly condemned the regime led by Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo and, with the decision announced on Tuesday, joins Spain and becomes the second country to formally offer naturalization to Nicaraguan opponents.

“The Government of Chile makes this alternative available to those who have been unjustly expatriated from Nicaragua and voluntarily decide to take it,” the statement said.

“The Argentine government is willing to grant Argentine citizenship to @sergioramirezm @GiocondaBelliP and all those who are suffering what is happening in Nicaragua,” presidential spokeswoman Gabriela Cerruti said Tuesday on Twitter, while Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero said in a radio interview that “if Sergio Ramírez asks for Argentine citizenship, we will give it to him; it's a simple procedure and Argentina is in a position to do it.”

But Cafiero insisted it was “a personal procedure” to be initiated by the interested individuals. “The applicant has to initiate the procedure, which is very simple, at the Argentine Embassy,” he pointed out.

”We have discussed it with the President (Alberto Fernández) when we saw the events in Nicaragua,” Cafiero also recalled.

Nicaraguan authorities have also released some 222 former political prisoners, who were sent on a plane to the United States on Feb. 9.

In addition to Ramírez and Belli (both exiled in Spain), also among the new stateless people are journalist Carlos Fernando Chamorro, feminist leader Sofía Montenegro and former guerrilla Dora María Téllez, who once fought alongside Ortega.

“The history of our country has taught us that the defense of democracy and human rights, and international solidarity among peoples, transcend political conjunctures and are part of civilizing standards essential for life in society,” the statement from the Chilean Government also read.

In a message on Twitter, Chilean President Gabriel Boric Font Saturday sent ”a fraternal embrace to Gioconda (Belli), Sergio (Ramirez), Sofia (Montenegro), Carlos (Fernando Chamorro) and all those whom Ortega has tried to strip of their Nicaraguan nationality.“

”The dictator (Ortega) does not know that the homeland is carried in the heart and in actions, and is not removed by decree. They are not alone!” Boric went on.

Chile's Foreign Minister Antonia Urrejola was also very critical of the situation in Nicaragua while she chaired the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) in 2021.

Ramírez, a former Nicaraguan vice president and 2007 Cervantes Prize winner, thanked Boric “for embodying dignity and integrity by not keeping quiet about Nicaragua”, while Belli praised him for “being consistent and for supporting the rule of law and the democratic demand in Nicaragua and Latin America.”