"A group of seven Nicaraguan journalists, exiled in Costa Rica, have requested the Spanish government grant them Spanish nationality, claiming they have been rendered de facto stateless by the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo. The request was submitted on May 19 to the Spanish consul in Costa Rica, the Madrid Press Association (APM, for its initials in Spanish) reported in a statement.
The journalists explain that, although they are Nicaraguan by origin, the dictatorship has erased them from the civil registry, denied them the renewal of passports and other basic documents, confiscated or destroyed their media outlets, and prevented them from entering the country, leaving them in a situation similar to that of the 222 Nicaraguans who were barred from the country in 2023.
The journalists who have submitted this request are 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. All of them have been forced to flee Nicaragua due to the political persecution and harassment the dictatorship has unleashed against those who report on human rights abuses, corruption and the lack of freedoms in the country."
