The Invisible Chains of ‘Civil Death'

On Feb. 9, 2023, 222 Nicaraguan political prisoners boarded a flight from Managua, headed for newfound freedom in the United States. Around the same time, though, Nicaraguan judges stripped them of their citizenship, along with that of 94 other mostly exiled "traitors" - human rights defenders, journalists, and civic leaders among them. President Daniel Ortega's government then seized their assets and erased all record of them from official files in Nicaragua. Even family members were ensnared in the regime's retribution, with reports that some dissidents' children were denied medical care,...