Nicaragua prisoner release pressure valve for Ortega regime

By GISELA SALOMON and CHRISTOPHER SHERMAN
Associated Press

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Sanctions and public criticism of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega was building for months. But both U.S. and Nicaraguan officials say the decision to put 222 imprisoned dissidents on a plane to Washington came suddenly. The plane was barely off the ground Thursday when word began to spread of the surprise release of opposition figures, journalists, activists and priests that most considered political prisoners. The majority had been sentenced in the past couple of years to lengthy prison sentences. They had little contact with each other and even less with the outside world. In Ortega’s mind, they were terrorists funded by foreign governments.