Like Viktor Navorski, the character played by Tom Hanks in the film The Terminal, a group of Nicaraguan journalists live trapped in a legal limbo that condemns them to exile and legal nonexistence.
In the fictional story, Navorski is stranded in a New York airport when his country ceases to exist to the outside world. Something similar, but in real life, is happening to seven Nicaraguan journalists exiled in Costa Rica. After fleeing persecution by Daniel Ortega's regime, they have been unable to renew their identification documents: Nicaragua refuses them, and Costa Rica has yet to fully recognize them. They are not locked in a terminal, but they have no homeland.
Consequently, at the end of May, they decided to request citizenship from the Spanish government, which has been friendly to other Nicaraguan exiles in recent years.
"Before the international community, we denounce the escalation of state repression carried out by the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo against independent journalism, which has left us in a situation of de facto statelessness," journalists Carmen Lucía Navas, Tania Jeannette López Rodríguez, Óscar Enrique Navarrete, Gerall Isaac Chávez, Donaldo Eliezer Hernández, Luis Eduardo Martínez Membreño, and Reyna María Vallecillo Tapia said in a statement.
Although the concept of de facto statelessness is not defined in international law, the summary of conclusions of the Expert Meeting on The Concept of Stateless Persons under International Law (UNHCR 2010) defines de facto stateless people as “persons outside the country of their nationality who are unable or, for valid reasons, are unwilling to avail themselves of the protection of that country.”
According to Attorney Salvador Marenco of Nicaragua Nunca Más, a group advising and supporting the group of journalists in their request to the Spanish government, being de facto stateless has the same effects as being stripped of citizenship through the judicial system.
A de facto stateless person cannot return to their country, nor can they renew their passport, identity card, or other documents essential to accessing health care, employment or education, Marenco explained.
From left to right, Nayel Martínez, journalist of La Prensa de Nicaragua; Gonzalo Carrión, coordinator of Colectivo Nicaragua Nunca Más; Tania López, independent journalist; Gerall Chávez, journalist of Nicaragua Actual; Wendy Quintero, independent journalist; and Oscar Navarrete, photojournalist of La Prensa. (Photo: Courtesy).
“In Nicaragua, the Constitution has been reformed, and multiple pieces of legislation have been passed that have allowed or paved the way for the issue of de facto statelessness,” Marenco told LatAm Journalism Review (LJR). “Obviously, [this happened] in a context of arbitrariness and a lack of judicial independence, with no recourse for victims.”
Gerall Chavez, one of the journalists requesting citizenship, left Nicaragua for Costa Rica in August 2018 after the walls of his family home were vandalized, the word “plomo” (lead) written on them. For months, he had been covering protests against the Ortega regime, in which at least 355 people died.
Chávez, who at the time was working as a television reporter for Vos TV, chose Costa Rica because of its proximity and because he considered it a safe haven in Central America for journalistic work. Chávez quickly obtained refugee status, but that has not been the case for everyone.
“There are still people who have their eligibility interviews in about four or five years. Other journalists don't have their interviews until 2030,” he told LJR.
Chávez also cited the burden on Costa Rica due to the large number of Nicaraguans seeking refugee status in the country. More than 194,000 asylum-seekers from Nicaragua and 9,216 recognized Nicaraguan refugees are in Costa Rica, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
There are also reports from exiled journalists that they no longer feel as safe, in terms of press freedom, as they did when they arrived in Costa Rica, and that they have not achieved the economic stability they had hoped for.
Chávez said he applied to renew his passport at the Nicaraguan embassy in Costa Rica in 2023. Two years later, he still has not been able to renew it.
“I insisted a lot, I called and they told me one of the many times that my passport wasn't going to arrive and that I had to go to Nicaragua if I wanted it,” Chávez said. “Obviously, that's not going to happen because I'm in Costa Rica and if I go to Nicaragua, the most likely scenario is that they'll detain me.”
Chávez explained that some journalists in the group of applicants are in the same situation, while others had their passports confiscated or were denied entry to Nicaragua after leaving on a trip.
LJR contacted the Costa Rican General Directorate of Immigration and Foreigners for comment on the complaints made by the Nicaraguan journalists, but had not received a response as of the publication of this story.
"We made the request to Spain because it understands the context in Nicaragua and was one of the first countries to offer citizenship to the 222 prisoners when they were banished to the United States," Chávez said. "Spain delivered, and it wasn't just a word or a promise. I know of at least 24 journalists who have obtained Spanish citizenship," Chávez added.
The Ortega regime, through the Nicaraguan judiciary, has stripped a total 451 people of their citizenship, according to records from digital media outlet Divergentes.
The first were 222 former political prisoners who were banished to the United States on Feb. 9, 2023. Then it was the turn of 94 exiles whom the Nicaraguan regime designated as "traitors to the homeland" on Feb. 15, 2023. Finally, in September 2024, 135 former political prisoners were also banished to Guatemala City, Guatemala. Journalists were included in all of these groups.
Since the first wave of people were stripped of citizenship, Pedro Sánchez's government has offered Spanish citizenship to stateless Nicaraguans as part of its "commitment to international law."
Patricia Orozco, director of the Nicaraguan digital portal Agenda Propia, is an example of a promise kept. When she appeared on the list of people who were stripped of their Nicaraguan citizenship, she was already living in Spain. She went to the Ministry of Justice, where she received guidance on how to apply for citizenship. In less than three months, she had a European passport in her hands.
"There are other countries that have made pronouncements and offered citizenship to denationalized Nicaraguans, but Spain is the only one that has done so en masse and has complied, and for that we should be grateful," she told LJR.
The group of seven journalists hopes to share the same fate. Their petition was delivered on May 19 to the Spanish Consul in Costa Rica and addressed to the King, the Government, and other Spanish authorities. So far, they haven’t received a response.
LJR contacted the Spanish Ministry of Justice's press team for its position on this case of de facto stateless persons. As of publication, no response has been received.
The Madrid Press Association expressed its support for the group of Nicaraguan journalists and asked the Spanish government to consider the situation "exceptional."
“Here in Spain, when I was naturalized, they asked me if I wanted to erase my Nicaraguan citizenship, and I said no because, in theory, I have the right to dual citizenship,” Orozco said. “You know, wherever you're born, you carry it inside, with or without laws.”
