(TODAY NICARAGUA) The Ortega-Murillo dictatorship has stranded more than 500 Nicaraguans at the Peñas Blancas border, standing firm it will not allow those who do not present a negative COVID-19 certificate.
The Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (Cenidh) in a statement asked the government of Daniel Ortega “to let the citizens enter immediately”.
Having checked out Costa Rica, the group is not at Nicaragua’s door, enduring the heat of the day, cold of the night, heavy rain, hunger, thirst and only one toiler, waiting to enter Nicaragua.
In interviews with local media in Costa Rica, the stranded between countries say they do not want to return to Costa Rica, “they want to go home”.
The situation is escalating as a group blocked the passage of truck traffic to pressure the Nicaraguan immigration authorities and the regime with the deployment of riot police.
The border remains closed and no vehicle is allowed to pass in either direction,” informed the Cenidh in a statement.
Nicaraguan authorities only provide COVID-19 tests to Nicaraguans traveling abroad, not entering, at a cost of US$150, which is equivalent to 81% of the average minimum wage, according to the Ministry of Health, which, after criticism of the exorbitant fee, removed the option from its website.
Ortega violates the Constitution
Cenidh maintains that the Nicaraguan government must guarantee the COVID-19 tests, and according to the results, monitor their health, “but not on the border”, where they sleep in the open.
“The Ortega regime does not respond to the compatriots of those who have spent several days living in inhumane conditions on the border,” said Cenidh, who said it is concerned about the situation “that with both borders closed to them are trapped and without support.”
Various humanitarian organizations believe that the Ortega government is violating the human and constitutional rights of its own citizens, whom it does not allow to enter the country without negative evidence of COVID-19.
The situation was reported to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) and the regional office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Costa Rican Immigration reports that the Nicaraguans have carried out the corresponding immigration procedures to leave their country, but when trying to enter Nicaragua, the country’s authorities blocked their passage.
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