Washington, D.C., December 3, 2025.– The Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality) expresses its satisfaction to learn that recently, the Ortega-Murillo regime has released people who were arbitrarily deprived of their liberty for political reasons. After months of unjust imprisonment, inhumane conditions, ill-treatment and isolation, we are comforted to know that these people will be able to reunite with their families and have better conditions for their care and attention.

So far, the authorities have not issued an official statement on these releases, but independent media and civil society organizations indicate that at least 12 people – including seven women – were released between Saturday, November 29 and Monday, December 1. In addition, at the beginning of the month, the release of three other people was announced.

According to this information, the releases have been registered as follows: on November 8, Leo Catalino Cárcamo Herrera, Julio Antonio Quintana Carvajal and Fabio Alberto Cáceres Larios, all older adults, were released. Subsequently, on November 29, it was learned about the release of at least eight people, including Carmen Sáenz, Lesbia Gutiérrez, Evelyn Guillén, Alejandro Hurtado Díaz, Eliseo Castro Baltodano, Evelyn Matus Hernández, Valmore Valladares and Mauricio Chavarría. Finally, on Monday, December 1, the release of Yolanda González Escobar, Carlos Vanegas, Luis Francisco Ortiz Calero and Octavio Enrique Caldera was reported.

According to the information available, as on other occasions, no indigenous leader has been released.

It should be noted that as of October 29, 2025, the Mechanism for the Recognition of Political Prisoners put the list of people deprived of liberty for political reasons at 77. We regret the regime’s lack of transparency since it does not report on arrests or on releases or changes in measures, which is due to its strategy to try to evade international scrutiny and responsibilities for the crimes committed.

We Demand Real Freedom

From Race and Equality we warn that these releases do not mean real freedom. The deprivation of liberty for political reasons in Nicaragua is not limited to being inside a physical prison: the repressive pattern of the regime can impose measures that continue to restrict fundamental rights, including: house arrest, constant surveillance, the obligation to report daily, threats, police harassment and the impossibility of exercising civil and political rights. The closure of civic space makes it impossible to freely exercise freedom of expression due to the certainty that reprisals will be taken. These practices constitute widespread forms of repression and social control that keep victims in a permanent state of risk and persecution.

We urgently call on the Nicaraguan State to immediately release all people arbitrarily detained for political reasons and to cease all forms of criminalization, harassment and reprisals against opponents, human rights defenders, journalists, territorial leaders and critical voices. We also urge the international community to continue to closely monitor the situation and to redouble efforts to demand the full, unconditional and guaranteed release of all persons deprived of liberty for political reasons in the country and for those who continue to be in a situation of enforced disappearance.

Race and Equality reaffirms its commitment to the victims, their families, and civil society organizations that continue to document and denounce human rights violations in Nicaragua, and reiterates that no measure of release will be sufficient as long as the regime maintains its repressive structure intact.