Caribbean & Central America - March 2024

Nicaragua’s recent decision to grant asylum to Panama’s former president Ricardo Martinelli (2009-2014), days after Panama’s top court (CSJ) upheld a conviction against him, has raised eyebrows. It follows other asylum requests granted by President Daniel Ortega’s government to figures who have fled their countries to evade corruption charges who have since been granted Nicaraguan citizenship. The move comes on the anniversary of the deportation to the US of 222 political prisoners who were subsequently stripped of their Nicaraguan citizenship – a measure since applied to other opposition figures [SSR-23-04].

On 7 February the Ortega government confirmed that it had granted asylum to Martinelli, citing “political persecution” and the “imminent risk to his life”. It came five days after the CSJ rejected appeals filed by Martinelli in response to his July 2023 conviction over the so-called ‘New Business’ case for which he received a prison sentence of over 10 years. Martinelli is just the latest former president accused of corruption in his native country to be granted asylum by the Ortega government. In 2019 Nicaragua granted political asylum to El Salvador’s former president Salvador Sánchez Cerén (2014-2019), who was facing corruption charges. Prior to that, in 2016 Nicaragua granted asylum to Sánchez Cerén’s predecessor, Mauricio Funes (2009-2014), who fled El Salvador to avoid a corruption trial. Both have since been granted Nicaraguan citizenship.

More recently, the Nicaraguan government has granted asylum and citizenship to other dubious figures. These include two close allies of former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernández (2014-2022), who is currently in the US where he faces drug and weapons related charges: Ebal Díaz (his former minister of the presidency) and Ricardo Cardona (his private secretary) who received asylum and citizenship in 2023. In 2021 Nicaragua granted citizenship to Gustavo Herrera, a Guatemalan businessman and political operator, having granted him asylum in 2018. Herrera appears on the US ‘Corrupt and Undemocratic Actors’ list for using his authority to “inappropriately influence and manipulate the appointment” of justices. He had fled charges of defrauding Guatemala’s social security institute (IGSS) by the now-defunct United Nations-backed International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (Cicig).

According to a report published on 9 February by local investigative news outlet Confidencial, the Ortega government has given Nicaraguan citizenship to “130 political allies and fugitives from justice” in the last two years. It notes that “several naturalisation processes were carried out in breach of Nicaraguan immigration laws... much like 317 Nicaraguans were stripped of their citizenship and made stateless” – a reference to the February 2023 decision to strip the 222 prisoners (and later other opposition figures) of their nationality on charges such as treason and conspiracy which was widely condemned at the time.

In a piece published on 12 February, one of the 222 political prisoners deported to the US, exiled opposition leader Félix Maradiaga, told Spanish daily El País that Ortega has undermined the true purpose of political asylum. “It should protect people who have been genuinely persecuted for their ideals, not serve as a safe haven for corrupt convicts seeking to evade justice,” he said. The dissident went on to say that: “Nicaragua as a sanctuary for accused individuals [like Funes, Sánchez Cerén, and Martinelli] contradicts international law and undermines the integrity of legitimate asylum. This irony perpetuates impunity, erodes justice, and dishonours national dignity by welcoming criminals while stripping patriots of their nationality”.

Others given protection

Italian terrorist Alessio Casimirri, a former member of the Red Brigades, a now defunct far-left guerrilla and terrorist group based in Italy, has been living in Managua since 1983 under the protection of the Nicaraguan government. In Italy he has been sentenced to six life terms for his role in the 1978 kidnapping and assassination of Italy’s former prime minister Aldo Moro (1974-1976). In 2008 Ortega granted political asylum to Doris Torres, Martha Pérez, and Lucía Morett, who were guerrillas from the now demobilised Colombian guerrilla group Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (Farc).