The Nicaraguan government on Thursday released over 200 political prisoners, including student and human rights activists, and political opponents critical of President Daniel Ortega. The freed prisoners immediately went into exile after the U.S. government chartered a plane from the capital Managua and flew them to Washington, D.C. Two declined to leave Nicaragua, including a Roman Catholic bishop who reportedly said he preferred to remain a prisoner rather than go into exile.

Among those released was Evelyn Pinto, a human rights defender who was sentenced to eight years in prison last year, after she was arrested in 2021 during Ortega’s crackdown on dissent ahead of that year’s presidential election, when he was reelected for a fifth term. This is Pinto’s daughter speaking from Dulles International Airport Thursday as she waited for her mother’s arrival.

Ariana Gutiérrez: “My mother is someone who has fought for democracy in Nicaragua, for the rights of children, teenagers and Indigenous peoples. She was unjustly detained by the dictatorship, just like the rest of the political prisoners, on November 6, 2021.”