US Secures Release of 135 Nicaraguan Political Prisoners Including 13 from Texas-Based Ministry

The United States government says it has secured the release of 135 Nicaraguan political prisoners including a group of pastors and ministry leaders connected to a U.S.-based ministry.

The National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan says they were released on humanitarian grounds. “No one should be put in jail for peacefully exercising their fundamental rights of free expression, association, and practicing their religion,” he said.

WATCH: CBN News Reports on 13 Evangelicals Freed from Nicaragua Prison

CBN NEWS: Nicaragua Closes 1,500 Non-Profits and Christian Ministries after Jailing Pastors

All the freed captives have been released to neighboring Guatemala where they await asylum claims for the U.S.  Other political prisoners are still being held captive by the regime in Nicaragua.

“The United States again calls on the government of Nicaragua to immediately cease the arbitrary arrest and detention of its citizens for merely exercising their fundamental freedoms,” Sullivan said.

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega has engaged in a years-long campaign to silence opponents or religious leaders whom he deems to be a threat. He exiled more than 300 opposition figures, stripping them of their nationality. Many others have been fined or sentenced to lengthy prison terms while their property has been seized by Ortega's government.

Thirteen individuals, including 11 pastors, who were targeted for their work in ministry are among those who have been released from prison. They're affiliated with Mountain Gateway, a Texas-based religious organization. Mountain Gateway spoke to CBN News about the good news in an interview posted ABOVE.

The Christian ministers had been given sentences ranging between 12 and 15 years and more than $80 million in fines per person, after a trial the Alliance Defending Freedom called a "sham." 

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The U.S. State Department said the Nicaraguan victims were held on false charges for exercising their freedoms of expression and religion. “Nicaraguan authorities unjustly detained these individuals for exercising their fundamental freedoms of expression, of association and peaceful assembly, and of religion or belief,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.

As CBN News reported, the government has shuttered more than 5,000 organizations since 2018, many of them religious in nature.

CBN NEWS: Nicaragua Closes 1,500 Non-Profits and Christian Ministries after Jailing Pastors