MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Stateless Nicaraguan writers accept new South American nationalities

“Chile has a deep bond with Nicaragua,” Belli said

Writers Sergio Ramírez and Gioconda Belli, who were stripped of their Nicaraguan citizenship by the Daniel Ortega regime which declared them “traitors to the homeland,” have made up their minds on which nationalities to accept from the multiple offers from various Latin American countries who jumped in not to leave them stateless.

Ramírez accepted the Ecuadorian citizenship, while Belli preferred Chilean President Gabriel Boric Font's proposal.

“Ecuador thus recognizes his struggle for freedom, which is the struggle of every Latin American who loves his people,” underlined Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso underlined upon learning about Ramírez's decision. Lasso also praised former Nicaraguan Vice President Ramírez's work as a writer and as a person who “fights for democracy and for the respect of Human Rights.”

Lasso and Ramírez spoke on the telephone about this agreement. The Presidency of Ecuador has announced that there will be a ceremony to officialize the delivery of the citizenship, “on a date to be agreed” upon.

Meanwhile, Belli confirmed she had accepted Chile's offer. “I have a lot of friends and people I love in Chile. And that is why I am going to take the Chilean nationality. If there is another country that I feel close to my heart is Chile,” she said in a radio interview.

Belli, who also resides in Spain, thanked President Boric and Foreign Minister Antonia Urrejola for this gesture and affirmed that “Chile has a deep bond with Nicaragua, from Rubén Darío to Pablo Neruda, Nicanor Parra, Marcela Serrano, Carla Guelfenbein...”

“Solidarity is the tenderness of peoples and today I can say that Chilean solidarity has embraced us Nicaraguans who have been stripped of our nationality and everything we possessed in Nicaragua,” the writer also stressed.

The governments of Chile, Spain, Argentina, Ecuador, and Mexico had offered their nationality to people left stateless by Ortega's government. Boric was one of the region's leaders most critical of the Sandinista regime and even called Ortega a “dictator.”