MEXICO CITY – In a surprising turn of events, Nicaragua’s Interior Ministry announced on Saturday its decision to release numerous prisoners, coinciding with the United States intensifying its diplomatic pressure on the leftist regime of President Daniel Ortega. This development follows closely on the heels of the U.S.’s recent diplomatic efforts in Venezuela, which led to the removal of former leader Nicolás Maduro.

The U.S. Embassy in Nicaragua highlighted Venezuela’s advancement toward peace after it freed what were termed “political prisoners.” However, the embassy expressed disappointment over the situation in Nicaragua, where over 60 individuals reportedly remain unjustly detained or missing. Among these are pastors, religious figures, and even vulnerable groups such as the elderly and the ill.

In a brief statement on Saturday, Nicaragua’s Interior Ministry revealed that “dozens of people who were in the National Penitentiary System are returning to their homes and families.” Despite this announcement, details about the identities of those released or the terms of their release have yet to be clarified, as the government has not provided further comment.

This move comes in the wake of a longstanding government crackdown that began after the massive social protests of 2018, which met with severe repression. The ruling administration has since targeted and imprisoned a wide array of adversaries, including religious leaders and journalists, often exiling them and revoking their Nicaraguan citizenship and belongings.

Since the crackdown began in 2018, more than 5,000 organizations, predominantly religious in nature, have been closed down, forcing thousands to seek refuge outside Nicaragua. The government has frequently accused its critics and opponents of conspiring against it, justifying its harsh measures as necessary for national security.

Nicaragua’s government has imprisoned adversaries, religious leaders, journalists and more, then exiled them, stripping hundreds of their Nicaraguan citizenship and possessions. Since 2018, it has shuttered more than 5,000 organizations, largely religious, and forced thousands to flee the country. Nicaragua’s government often accused critics and opponents of plotting against the government.

In recent years, the government has released hundreds of imprisoned political opponents, critics and activists. It stripped them of Nicaraguan citizenship and sent them to other countries like the U.S. and Guatemala. Observers have called it an effort to wash its hands of its opposition and offset international human rights criticism. Many of those Nicaraguans were forced into a situation of “statelessness.”

Saturday on X, the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs again slammed Nicaragua’s government. “Nicaraguans voted for a president in 2006, not for an illegitimate lifelong dynasty,” it said. “Rewriting the Constitution and crushing dissent will not erase the Nicaraguans’ aspirations to live free from tyranny.”

Danny Ramírez-Ayérdiz, executive-secretary of the Nicaraguan human rights organization CADILH, said he had mixed feelings about the releases announced Saturday.

“On the one hand, I’m glad. All political prisoners suffer some form of torture. But on the other hand, I know these people will continue to be harassed, surveilled and monitored by the police, and so will their families.”

Ramírez-Ayérdiz said the liberation of the prisoners is a response to pressure exerted by the United States. “There is surely a great deal of fear within the regime that the U.S. might completely dismantle it,” he said.