Global Voices - category 'freedom of speech'

Exiled Myanmar artists continue their struggle abroad, yet finding safety and stability is a struggle in itself

Originally published on Global Voices

Artist Yadanar Win at a protest for Myanmar in Paris. Photo by: Stéphane Ferrer. 2024. Used with permission.

This post is part of Global Voices’ July 2026 Spotlight series, “Statelessness.” This series offers insight into the issue of statelessness and how it hinders people’s freedom of movement, educational opportunities, political access, and more. You can support this coverage by donating here.

In February 2021, Myanmar’s military grabbed power and deposed the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD). Since then, the coup has triggered a major humanitarian catastrophe as the junta waged a brutal crackdown targeting pro-democracy forces and activists. 

According to a January 2026 report released by the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS), 3.6 million people have been recorded as internally displaced persons (IDPs) due to the conflict in Myanmar. The United Nations said the number of IDPs increased this month after Myanmar’s State Administration Council (SAC) intensified indiscriminate and deliberate aerial and artillery attacks on civilian communities, schools, hospitals, and places of worship. In the first half of 2026 alone, the military conducted 477 air strikes targeting civilians and areas controlled by Ethnic Resistance Organizations (EROs). With 1,200 distinct armed groups, ACLED called Myanmar the most fragmented conflict in the world.

Legal warfare and transnational repression

Women were at the forefront of democracy and resistance in Myanmar: Now they are targeted by the junta due to their gender. Photo credit: Stéphane Ferrer. 2024. Used with permission.

Pro-democracy artists, musicians and filmmakers are among the most active figures resisting the junta. By opposing the military government, the creative class has been severely targeted through arrests, executions, and citizenship revocation.

“After the coup, those who were involved in protests were sent to prison or disappeared. Many joined liberation armies in the jungles; many fled the country. Freedom is absent for artists, activists, and journalists. The country is one of the worst places for activists, artists, and journalists. The junta is making sure that the country remains shut out from the world,” said Yadanar Win, an exiled Myanmar artist based in Marseille, France.

Yadanar is one of a handful of Myanmar artists who were forced to escape the country after the coup. While living overseas, many continued to use their art against the junta. 

In response, the junta arbitrarily used the 1982 Citizenship Law to revoke the documents of exiled Myanmar opposition leaders, activists, and artists, which rendered them effectively stateless — unable to return or to proceed to a different host country, while making them vulnerable to abuse, extortion, and human trafficking.

“I left Myanmar in 2021, three months after the coup. I no longer have my Myanmar documents. I can’t see my family since the war. It will be too risky to return,” said Yadanar.

Life of a displaced creative

Yadanar in Bolzano, Italy, 2023, showcasing her exhibition on Myanmar women. Photo credit: Stéphane Ferrer. Used with permission.

As a young artist, Yadanar joined the Yangon-based underground art collective New Zero, which was established by former political prisoners. She channeled her dissent through conceptual art and performance.

In Europe, Yadanar struggled hard to learn a new language while seeking legal status and continuing her advocacy for Myanmar’s pro-democracy movement. 

“I arrived in France with zero notion of the language,” she recalls on the day she landed in France. “I never thought that I would be staying here. Without mastering the language, it’s hard to talk about Myanmar beyond the obvious, like its geographic location or landmarks,” she added.

The physical safety she feels by being away from Myanmar does not guarantee peace of mind. Adapting to a new culture while navigating long and complicated red tape to obtain legal status can put one in a constant state of anxiety and depression.

“In France, administrative obligations for foreigners are handled at the Préfécture [district office]. It is very taxing, with a lot of uncertainty and confusion on paper requirements and a long waiting period,” she explains. “I learned from my fellow Myanmar artists and other artists in exile that they are experiencing the same administrative hardships. The particularity for Myanmar artists is that many in the South of France Préfecture bureaucrats were unsure if Myanmar is an actual country.”

The local administrative ignorance, she suspects, reflects the lack of adequate media coverage about her home country. This leaves the small community of exiled creatives in France isolated, overlooked, and struggling to make themselves heard.

“There are not many of us, Myanmar artists. We are very small in numbers, and our voices are not as loud as others,” she told Global Voices.  “There is very little support for Myanmar artists in exile, unlike others from Palestine or Ukraine, countries that have much better coverage by the international media.”

Beyond activism, life must go on. The local job market is known to be complicated for refugees to access. One in two refugees in France is unemployed or unable to work three years after their arrival in France, even as the French job market is desperate for workers, with 74 percent of employers reporting a talent shortage. L’Institut français des relations internationales (The French Institute for International Relations – IFRI) reports that one year after obtaining their refugee status, only 42 percent of refugees living in France manage to find employment — and those that do find work often take jobs outside their area of expertise or skill level.

“For an artist in exile, producing and expressing in the long term are difficult to do. First we need to survive. This year, I might need to deprioritize art in order to ensure my daily survival. I’m working to find time and energy to ensure that my activism will go on.”

Safe havens for creatives in exile

An artist’s creativity may face a vicious cycle beyond oppression, such as lack of representation and isolation. This is why the presence of collectives that embrace exiled artists is crucial, according to Yadanar.

In France, Yadanar found connection and creative freedom among other artists with a similar plight at l’Atelier des artistes en exil, a non-profit organization supporting artists in exile based in Paris and Marseille.

“Within the collective, I got to be listened to by fellow artists and to be with one another. We share ideas, preparing exhibition projects together and being one another’s support. This year, I did two exhibitions with the collective, so far.”

Still, Myanmar artists in exile are geographically scattered in different countries and time zones. “And so far, there’s no formal association linking Myanmar artists in exile, one that unites artists yet,” she ponders while pointing out the importance of building a cohesive community of artists sharing the same culture and mission dedicated to Myanmar’s liberation.

Written by Juke Carolina

Exiled Myanmar artists continue their struggle abroad, yet finding safety and stability is a struggle in itself

Originally published on Global Voices

Artist Yadanar Win at a protest for Myanmar in Paris. Photo by: Stéphane Ferrer. 2024. Used with permission.

This post is part of Global Voices’ July 2026 Spotlight series, “Statelessness.” This series offers insight into the issue of statelessness and how it hinders people’s freedom of movement, educational opportunities, political access, and more. You can support this coverage by donating here.

In February 2021, Myanmar’s military grabbed power and deposed the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD). Since then, the coup has triggered a major humanitarian catastrophe as the junta waged a brutal crackdown targeting pro-democracy forces and activists. 

According to a January 2026 report released by the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS), 3.6 million people have been recorded as internally displaced persons (IDPs) due to the conflict in Myanmar. The United Nations said the number of IDPs increased this month after Myanmar’s State Administration Council (SAC) intensified indiscriminate and deliberate aerial and artillery attacks on civilian communities, schools, hospitals, and places of worship. In the first half of 2026 alone, the military conducted 477 air strikes targeting civilians and areas controlled by Ethnic Resistance Organizations (EROs). With 1,200 distinct armed groups, ACLED called Myanmar the most fragmented conflict in the world.

Legal warfare and transnational repression

Women were at the forefront of democracy and resistance in Myanmar: Now they are targeted by the junta due to their gender. Photo credit: Stéphane Ferrer. 2024. Used with permission.

Pro-democracy artists, musicians and filmmakers are among the most active figures resisting the junta. By opposing the military government, the creative class has been severely targeted through arrests, executions, and citizenship revocation.

“After the coup, those who were involved in protests were sent to prison or disappeared. Many joined liberation armies in the jungles; many fled the country. Freedom is absent for artists, activists, and journalists. The country is one of the worst places for activists, artists, and journalists. The junta is making sure that the country remains shut out from the world,” said Yadanar Win, an exiled Myanmar artist based in Marseille, France.

Yadanar is one of a handful of Myanmar artists who were forced to escape the country after the coup. While living overseas, many continued to use their art against the junta. 

In response, the junta arbitrarily used the 1982 Citizenship Law to revoke the documents of exiled Myanmar opposition leaders, activists, and artists, which rendered them effectively stateless — unable to return or to proceed to a different host country, while making them vulnerable to abuse, extortion, and human trafficking.

“I left Myanmar in 2021, three months after the coup. I no longer have my Myanmar documents. I can’t see my family since the war. It will be too risky to return,” said Yadanar.

Life of a displaced creative

Yadanar in Bolzano, Italy, 2023, showcasing her exhibition on Myanmar women. Photo credit: Stéphane Ferrer. Used with permission.

As a young artist, Yadanar joined the Yangon-based underground art collective New Zero, which was established by former political prisoners. She channeled her dissent through conceptual art and performance.

In Europe, Yadanar struggled hard to learn a new language while seeking legal status and continuing her advocacy for Myanmar’s pro-democracy movement. 

“I arrived in France with zero notion of the language,” she recalls on the day she landed in France. “I never thought that I would be staying here. Without mastering the language, it’s hard to talk about Myanmar beyond the obvious, like its geographic location or landmarks,” she added.

The physical safety she feels by being away from Myanmar does not guarantee peace of mind. Adapting to a new culture while navigating long and complicated red tape to obtain legal status can put one in a constant state of anxiety and depression.

“In France, administrative obligations for foreigners are handled at the Préfécture [district office]. It is very taxing, with a lot of uncertainty and confusion on paper requirements and a long waiting period,” she explains. “I learned from my fellow Myanmar artists and other artists in exile that they are experiencing the same administrative hardships. The particularity for Myanmar artists is that many in the South of France Préfecture bureaucrats were unsure if Myanmar is an actual country.”

The local administrative ignorance, she suspects, reflects the lack of adequate media coverage about her home country. This leaves the small community of exiled creatives in France isolated, overlooked, and struggling to make themselves heard.

“There are not many of us, Myanmar artists. We are very small in numbers, and our voices are not as loud as others,” she told Global Voices.  “There is very little support for Myanmar artists in exile, unlike others from Palestine or Ukraine, countries that have much better coverage by the international media.”

Beyond activism, life must go on. The local job market is known to be complicated for refugees to access. One in two refugees in France is unemployed or unable to work three years after their arrival in France, even as the French job market is desperate for workers, with 74 percent of employers reporting a talent shortage. L’Institut français des relations internationales (The French Institute for International Relations – IFRI) reports that one year after obtaining their refugee status, only 42 percent of refugees living in France manage to find employment — and those that do find work often take jobs outside their area of expertise or skill level.

“For an artist in exile, producing and expressing in the long term are difficult to do. First we need to survive. This year, I might need to deprioritize art in order to ensure my daily survival. I’m working to find time and energy to ensure that my activism will go on.”

Safe havens for creatives in exile

An artist’s creativity may face a vicious cycle beyond oppression, such as lack of representation and isolation. This is why the presence of collectives that embrace exiled artists is crucial, according to Yadanar.

In France, Yadanar found connection and creative freedom among other artists with a similar plight at l’Atelier des artistes en exil, a non-profit organization supporting artists in exile based in Paris and Marseille.

“Within the collective, I got to be listened to by fellow artists and to be with one another. We share ideas, preparing exhibition projects together and being one another’s support. This year, I did two exhibitions with the collective, so far.”

Still, Myanmar artists in exile are geographically scattered in different countries and time zones. “And so far, there’s no formal association linking Myanmar artists in exile, one that unites artists yet,” she ponders while pointing out the importance of building a cohesive community of artists sharing the same culture and mission dedicated to Myanmar’s liberation.

Written by Juke Carolina

Exiled Myanmar artists continue their struggle abroad, yet finding safety and stability is a struggle in itself

Originally published on Global Voices

Artist Yadanar Win at a protest for Myanmar in Paris. Photo by: Stéphane Ferrer. 2024. Used with permission.

This post is part of Global Voices’ July 2026 Spotlight series, “Statelessness.” This series offers insight into the issue of statelessness and how it hinders people’s freedom of movement, educational opportunities, political access, and more. You can support this coverage by donating here.

In February 2021, Myanmar’s military grabbed power and deposed the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD). Since then, the coup has triggered a major humanitarian catastrophe as the junta waged a brutal crackdown targeting pro-democracy forces and activists. 

According to a January 2026 report released by the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS), 3.6 million people have been recorded as internally displaced persons (IDPs) due to the conflict in Myanmar. The United Nations said the number of IDPs increased this month after Myanmar’s State Administration Council (SAC) intensified indiscriminate and deliberate aerial and artillery attacks on civilian communities, schools, hospitals, and places of worship. In the first half of 2026 alone, the military conducted 477 air strikes targeting civilians and areas controlled by Ethnic Resistance Organizations (EROs). With 1,200 distinct armed groups, ACLED called Myanmar the most fragmented conflict in the world.

Legal warfare and transnational repression

Women were at the forefront of democracy and resistance in Myanmar: Now they are targeted by the junta due to their gender. Photo credit: Stéphane Ferrer. 2024. Used with permission.

Pro-democracy artists, musicians and filmmakers are among the most active figures resisting the junta. By opposing the military government, the creative class has been severely targeted through arrests, executions, and citizenship revocation.

“After the coup, those who were involved in protests were sent to prison or disappeared. Many joined liberation armies in the jungles; many fled the country. Freedom is absent for artists, activists, and journalists. The country is one of the worst places for activists, artists, and journalists. The junta is making sure that the country remains shut out from the world,” said Yadanar Win, an exiled Myanmar artist based in Marseille, France.

Yadanar is one of a handful of Myanmar artists who were forced to escape the country after the coup. While living overseas, many continued to use their art against the junta. 

In response, the junta arbitrarily used the 1982 Citizenship Law to revoke the documents of exiled Myanmar opposition leaders, activists, and artists, which rendered them effectively stateless — unable to return or to proceed to a different host country, while making them vulnerable to abuse, extortion, and human trafficking.

“I left Myanmar in 2021, three months after the coup. I no longer have my Myanmar documents. I can’t see my family since the war. It will be too risky to return,” said Yadanar.

Life of a displaced creative

Yadanar in Bolzano, Italy, 2023, showcasing her exhibition on Myanmar women. Photo credit: Stéphane Ferrer. Used with permission.

As a young artist, Yadanar joined the Yangon-based underground art collective New Zero, which was established by former political prisoners. She channeled her dissent through conceptual art and performance.

In Europe, Yadanar struggled hard to learn a new language while seeking legal status and continuing her advocacy for Myanmar’s pro-democracy movement. 

“I arrived in France with zero notion of the language,” she recalls on the day she landed in France. “I never thought that I would be staying here. Without mastering the language, it’s hard to talk about Myanmar beyond the obvious, like its geographic location or landmarks,” she added.

The physical safety she feels by being away from Myanmar does not guarantee peace of mind. Adapting to a new culture while navigating long and complicated red tape to obtain legal status can put one in a constant state of anxiety and depression.

“In France, administrative obligations for foreigners are handled at the Préfécture [district office]. It is very taxing, with a lot of uncertainty and confusion on paper requirements and a long waiting period,” she explains. “I learned from my fellow Myanmar artists and other artists in exile that they are experiencing the same administrative hardships. The particularity for Myanmar artists is that many in the South of France Préfecture bureaucrats were unsure if Myanmar is an actual country.”

The local administrative ignorance, she suspects, reflects the lack of adequate media coverage about her home country. This leaves the small community of exiled creatives in France isolated, overlooked, and struggling to make themselves heard.

“There are not many of us, Myanmar artists. We are very small in numbers, and our voices are not as loud as others,” she told Global Voices.  “There is very little support for Myanmar artists in exile, unlike others from Palestine or Ukraine, countries that have much better coverage by the international media.”

Beyond activism, life must go on. The local job market is known to be complicated for refugees to access. One in two refugees in France is unemployed or unable to work three years after their arrival in France, even as the French job market is desperate for workers, with 74 percent of employers reporting a talent shortage. L’Institut français des relations internationales (The French Institute for International Relations – IFRI) reports that one year after obtaining their refugee status, only 42 percent of refugees living in France manage to find employment — and those that do find work often take jobs outside their area of expertise or skill level.

“For an artist in exile, producing and expressing in the long term are difficult to do. First we need to survive. This year, I might need to deprioritize art in order to ensure my daily survival. I’m working to find time and energy to ensure that my activism will go on.”

Safe havens for creatives in exile

An artist’s creativity may face a vicious cycle beyond oppression, such as lack of representation and isolation. This is why the presence of collectives that embrace exiled artists is crucial, according to Yadanar.

In France, Yadanar found connection and creative freedom among other artists with a similar plight at l’Atelier des artistes en exil, a non-profit organization supporting artists in exile based in Paris and Marseille.

“Within the collective, I got to be listened to by fellow artists and to be with one another. We share ideas, preparing exhibition projects together and being one another’s support. This year, I did two exhibitions with the collective, so far.”

Still, Myanmar artists in exile are geographically scattered in different countries and time zones. “And so far, there’s no formal association linking Myanmar artists in exile, one that unites artists yet,” she ponders while pointing out the importance of building a cohesive community of artists sharing the same culture and mission dedicated to Myanmar’s liberation.

Written by Juke Carolina

Nicaragua’s president justifies revoking the citizenship of dissidents

Originally published on Global Voices

Feature image created by Global Voices using Canva Pro elements.

This story is part of Undertones, Global Voices’ Civic Media Observatory’s newsletter and column. Subscribe to Undertones. This post is also part of Global Voices’ July 2026 Spotlight series, “Statelessness.” This series offers insight into the issue of statelessness and how it hinders people’s freedom of movement, educational opportunities, political access, and more. You can support this coverage by donating here. 

Throughout history, denationalization has been widely employed by states to exclude or expel individuals deemed undesirable, including political dissidents, convicted criminals, and members of ethnic, religious, or racial minority groups. 

In the late 1930s, Germany, Italy, and France enacted discriminatory nationality laws that revoked citizenship from targeted groups, particularly — though not exclusively — recently naturalized Jews, thereby facilitating their persecution. In 1941, Panamanian president Arnulfo Arias introduced a new constitution that promoted an exclusionary form of nationalism and established discriminatory citizenship provisions, laying the groundwork for the denationalization of thousands of Afro-Caribbean Panamanians. In 1982, Myanmar (then Burma) adopted a citizenship law that stripped the Rohingya— a predominantly Muslim ethnic minority from Rakhine State — of their citizenship. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the Rohingya constitute the world's largest stateless population, with approximately 1.8 million people lacking nationality. Although denationalization does not invariably result in statelessness, it has frequently produced that outcome, leaving many of the communities targeted by such policies without the protection of any state. 

As Audrey Macklin asserts in her chapter “The Return of Banishment: Do the New Denationalization Policies Weaken Citizenship?” in the book “Debating Transformations of National Citizenship,” “defenders of citizenship revocation liturgically intone that ‘citizenship is a privilege, not a right,’” an honor that some authoritarian leaders believe must be earned with fidelity to the political path they have envisioned proper for the country.

Narrative: Those who betray their homeland surrender their right to belong

On February 9, 2023, the Nicaraguan government released 222 political prisoners and deported them to the United States. On the same day, the National Assembly — controlled by the ruling party — unanimously approved a constitutional reform authorizing the revocation of the nationality of individuals declared “traitors to the homeland.” These amendments were enacted through Law No. 1145 and were subsequently incorporated into the Law on the Partial Reform of the Political Constitution of the Republic of Nicaragua. On February 15, 2023, the Nicaraguan government revoked the nationality of an additional 94 Nicaraguans. 

Screenshot from the video “90 Años y Sandino Vive, Vive, Vive, y la Lucha Sigue, Sigue, Sigue…!” on the El 19 Digital YouTube channel; fair use.

A year later, on February 21, 2024, in a speech to celebrate the 90th death anniversary of revolutionary Augusto Nicolás Calderón Sandino, co-President of Nicaragua Daniel Ortega said, “those who betray their homeland cease to belong to that country and cease to have a homeland; that is why those who betray their homeland are called stateless.” In Spanish, homeland is “patria,” and “apátrida” is used to refer to a stateless person. Ortega uses “traición a la patria” and “apátrida” in his statement to equate treason to the homeland (“traición a la patria”) with statelessness.

Ortega made these remarks referring to Adolfo Díaz y Emiliano Chamorro, two former presidents of Nicaragua during the first half of the 20th century, and to the more than 300 people he deprived of their citizenship — comparing those in exile to the two past conservative leaders of the country who favored the United States occupation of Nicaragua (1912–1933), against which Sandino fought.

Members of the current Nicaraguan government and press affiliated with it echo this narrative and the belief that expressing dissent against the current administration is an act of treason that must be penalized with the removal of nationality.

This narrative is also shared outside Nicaragua. In July 2025, Cambodia revised its constitution and passed new legislation authorizing the government to strip Khmer citizenship from individuals found guilty of treason, collaborating with foreign entities, or threatening national security. Referring to the regulation, as reported by Global Voices, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet, the son of Senate President Hun Sen, stated:

If you are a patriot and are determined to your last breath not to act against Cambodian interests, please do not worry. But if you have a plan to conspire with a foreign country to destroy Cambodian interests, then you should be [concerned]. And, if you are like that, you should not remain a Cambodian

In July 2026, Russia's parliament passed a law that sends a similar message to dissidents. Under the legislation, Russians living abroad and evading politically motivated charges can be stripped of property rights, access to bank accounts, and consular services — a package of measures that lawyers say effectively amounts to a revocation of citizenship. 

The context surrounding the narrative

Daniel Ortega is a former guerrilla fighter who helped overthrow President Anastasio Somoza Debayle in July 1979. Somoza Debayle was the last member of the Somoza family to rule Nicaragua, ending a U.S. backed dynasty that had governed the country since 1936. Ortega first served as Nicaragua's president from 1985 to 1990, representing the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), the political party that emerged from the guerrilla movement he belonged to.

From 1990 to 2006, Nicaragua shifted from civil war and Sandinista governance to a multiparty democratic system under the leadership of three consecutive presidents — Violeta Chamorro, Arnoldo Alemán, and Enrique Bolaños — before Daniel Ortega regained the presidency by winning the 2006 election. 

Daniel Ortega has ruled Nicaragua since 2007. Following constitutional amendments approved in 2024, he began sharing the presidency with his wife, Rosario Murillo, in 2025.

The Ortega–Murillo administration is widely regarded as authoritarian by numerous international organizations. According to Amnesty International, the Nicaraguan government has consolidated authoritarian control and intensified its suppression of dissent. The organization reports arbitrary detention and enforced disappearances of political opponents, as well as restrictions on freedom of expression, association, and religion. It also documents the continued harassment of journalists, human rights defenders, and civil society organizations. Amnesty International notes that constitutional reforms have expanded state powers while weakening safeguards against abuses, including removing the constitutional prohibition of torture.

The political crisis in Nicaragua has been escalating since 2018, when social protests, sparked by proposed Social Security reforms, reflected years of growing public discontent over restrictions on civic freedoms, weakened institutions, and the concentration of power in the Executive branch. The state's violent crackdown left at least 355 people dead, more than 2,000 injured, and over 2,000 arbitrarily detained.

Ortega and his followers claim to represent the legacy of Augusto César Sandino, a controversial revolutionary who fought for national sovereignty, opposed U.S. intervention in Nicaragua during the 1920s, and inspired the Sandinista movement. 

U.S. interventions in Nicaragua occurred on several occasions, most notably William Walker’s filibustering expedition in the mid-nineteenth century, the prolonged U.S. military occupation from 1912 to 1933, and U.S. support for the Contras, a counterrevolutionary armed movement that fought against the FSLN's Junta of National Reconstruction and the presidency of Daniel Ortega during the 1980s. 

Ortega has presented himself as one of the significant anti-imperialist leaders of Latin America, together with Fidel Castro (Cuba) and Hugo Chávez Frías (Venezuela). In his discourse, dissidents are considered “traitors of the homeland” and are often linked to imperialist efforts considered to come mainly from the U.S. 

The over 300 Nicaraguans who were stripped of their nationality include opposition members, journalists, human rights defenders, writers, and representatives of the Catholic Church. Right after the Nicaraguan government announced its decision, the governments of Mexico, Spain, Chile, and Argentina offered to naturalize those who had recently become stateless.

On July 19, 2026, Daniel Ortega announced that “there will be no more elections” in the country. Nicaragua's presidential election was set for 2027 after a constitutional reform postponed the vote from its original schedule at the end of this year.

Written by Civic Media Observatory, Samanta Azpurua

Nicaragua’s president justifies revoking the citizenship of dissidents

Originally published on Global Voices

Feature image created by Global Voices using Canva Pro elements.

This story is part of Undertones, Global Voices’ Civic Media Observatory’s newsletter and column. Subscribe to Undertones. This post is also part of Global Voices’ July 2026 Spotlight series, “Statelessness.” This series offers insight into the issue of statelessness and how it hinders people’s freedom of movement, educational opportunities, political access, and more. You can support this coverage by donating here. 

Throughout history, denationalization has been widely employed by states to exclude or expel individuals deemed undesirable, including political dissidents, convicted criminals, and members of ethnic, religious, or racial minority groups. 

In the late 1930s, Germany, Italy, and France enacted discriminatory nationality laws that revoked citizenship from targeted groups, particularly — though not exclusively — recently naturalized Jews, thereby facilitating their persecution. In 1941, Panamanian president Arnulfo Arias introduced a new constitution that promoted an exclusionary form of nationalism and established discriminatory citizenship provisions, laying the groundwork for the denationalization of thousands of Afro-Caribbean Panamanians. In 1982, Myanmar (then Burma) adopted a citizenship law that stripped the Rohingya— a predominantly Muslim ethnic minority from Rakhine State — of their citizenship. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the Rohingya constitute the world's largest stateless population, with approximately 1.8 million people lacking nationality. Although denationalization does not invariably result in statelessness, it has frequently produced that outcome, leaving many of the communities targeted by such policies without the protection of any state. 

As Audrey Macklin asserts in her chapter “The Return of Banishment: Do the New Denationalization Policies Weaken Citizenship?” in the book “Debating Transformations of National Citizenship,” “defenders of citizenship revocation liturgically intone that ‘citizenship is a privilege, not a right,’” an honor that some authoritarian leaders believe must be earned with fidelity to the political path they have envisioned proper for the country.

Narrative: Those who betray their homeland surrender their right to belong

On February 9, 2023, the Nicaraguan government released 222 political prisoners and deported them to the United States. On the same day, the National Assembly — controlled by the ruling party — unanimously approved a constitutional reform authorizing the revocation of the nationality of individuals declared “traitors to the homeland.” These amendments were enacted through Law No. 1145 and were subsequently incorporated into the Law on the Partial Reform of the Political Constitution of the Republic of Nicaragua. On February 15, 2023, the Nicaraguan government revoked the nationality of an additional 94 Nicaraguans. 

Screenshot from the video “90 Años y Sandino Vive, Vive, Vive, y la Lucha Sigue, Sigue, Sigue…!” on the El 19 Digital YouTube channel; fair use.

A year later, on February 21, 2024, in a speech to celebrate the 90th death anniversary of revolutionary Augusto Nicolás Calderón Sandino, co-President of Nicaragua Daniel Ortega said, “those who betray their homeland cease to belong to that country and cease to have a homeland; that is why those who betray their homeland are called stateless.” In Spanish, homeland is “patria,” and “apátrida” is used to refer to a stateless person. Ortega uses “traición a la patria” and “apátrida” in his statement to equate treason to the homeland (“traición a la patria”) with statelessness.

Ortega made these remarks referring to Adolfo Díaz y Emiliano Chamorro, two former presidents of Nicaragua during the first half of the 20th century, and to the more than 300 people he deprived of their citizenship — comparing those in exile to the two past conservative leaders of the country who favored the United States occupation of Nicaragua (1912–1933), against which Sandino fought.

Members of the current Nicaraguan government and press affiliated with it echo this narrative and the belief that expressing dissent against the current administration is an act of treason that must be penalized with the removal of nationality.

This narrative is also shared outside Nicaragua. In July 2025, Cambodia revised its constitution and passed new legislation authorizing the government to strip Khmer citizenship from individuals found guilty of treason, collaborating with foreign entities, or threatening national security. Referring to the regulation, as reported by Global Voices, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet, the son of Senate President Hun Sen, stated:

If you are a patriot and are determined to your last breath not to act against Cambodian interests, please do not worry. But if you have a plan to conspire with a foreign country to destroy Cambodian interests, then you should be [concerned]. And, if you are like that, you should not remain a Cambodian

In July 2026, Russia's parliament passed a law that sends a similar message to dissidents. Under the legislation, Russians living abroad and evading politically motivated charges can be stripped of property rights, access to bank accounts, and consular services — a package of measures that lawyers say effectively amounts to a revocation of citizenship. 

The context surrounding the narrative

Daniel Ortega is a former guerrilla fighter who helped overthrow President Anastasio Somoza Debayle in July 1979. Somoza Debayle was the last member of the Somoza family to rule Nicaragua, ending a U.S. backed dynasty that had governed the country since 1936. Ortega first served as Nicaragua's president from 1985 to 1990, representing the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), the political party that emerged from the guerrilla movement he belonged to.

From 1990 to 2006, Nicaragua shifted from civil war and Sandinista governance to a multiparty democratic system under the leadership of three consecutive presidents — Violeta Chamorro, Arnoldo Alemán, and Enrique Bolaños — before Daniel Ortega regained the presidency by winning the 2006 election. 

Daniel Ortega has ruled Nicaragua since 2007. Following constitutional amendments approved in 2024, he began sharing the presidency with his wife, Rosario Murillo, in 2025.

The Ortega–Murillo administration is widely regarded as authoritarian by numerous international organizations. According to Amnesty International, the Nicaraguan government has consolidated authoritarian control and intensified its suppression of dissent. The organization reports arbitrary detention and enforced disappearances of political opponents, as well as restrictions on freedom of expression, association, and religion. It also documents the continued harassment of journalists, human rights defenders, and civil society organizations. Amnesty International notes that constitutional reforms have expanded state powers while weakening safeguards against abuses, including removing the constitutional prohibition of torture.

The political crisis in Nicaragua has been escalating since 2018, when social protests, sparked by proposed Social Security reforms, reflected years of growing public discontent over restrictions on civic freedoms, weakened institutions, and the concentration of power in the Executive branch. The state's violent crackdown left at least 355 people dead, more than 2,000 injured, and over 2,000 arbitrarily detained.

Ortega and his followers claim to represent the legacy of Augusto César Sandino, a controversial revolutionary who fought for national sovereignty, opposed U.S. intervention in Nicaragua during the 1920s, and inspired the Sandinista movement. 

U.S. interventions in Nicaragua occurred on several occasions, most notably William Walker’s filibustering expedition in the mid-nineteenth century, the prolonged U.S. military occupation from 1912 to 1933, and U.S. support for the Contras, a counterrevolutionary armed movement that fought against the FSLN's Junta of National Reconstruction and the presidency of Daniel Ortega during the 1980s. 

Ortega has presented himself as one of the significant anti-imperialist leaders of Latin America, together with Fidel Castro (Cuba) and Hugo Chávez Frías (Venezuela). In his discourse, dissidents are considered “traitors of the homeland” and are often linked to imperialist efforts considered to come mainly from the U.S. 

The over 300 Nicaraguans who were stripped of their nationality include opposition members, journalists, human rights defenders, writers, and representatives of the Catholic Church. Right after the Nicaraguan government announced its decision, the governments of Mexico, Spain, Chile, and Argentina offered to naturalize those who had recently become stateless.

On July 19, 2026, Daniel Ortega announced that “there will be no more elections” in the country. Nicaragua's presidential election was set for 2027 after a constitutional reform postponed the vote from its original schedule at the end of this year.

Written by Civic Media Observatory, Samanta Azpurua

Nicaragua’s president justifies revoking the citizenship of dissidents

Originally published on Global Voices

Feature image created by Global Voices using Canva Pro elements.

This story is part of Undertones, Global Voices’ Civic Media Observatory’s newsletter and column. Subscribe to Undertones. This post is also part of Global Voices’ July 2026 Spotlight series, “Statelessness.” This series offers insight into the issue of statelessness and how it hinders people’s freedom of movement, educational opportunities, political access, and more. You can support this coverage by donating here. 

Throughout history, denationalization has been widely employed by states to exclude or expel individuals deemed undesirable, including political dissidents, convicted criminals, and members of ethnic, religious, or racial minority groups. 

In the late 1930s, Germany, Italy, and France enacted discriminatory nationality laws that revoked citizenship from targeted groups, particularly — though not exclusively — recently naturalized Jews, thereby facilitating their persecution. In 1941, Panamanian president Arnulfo Arias introduced a new constitution that promoted an exclusionary form of nationalism and established discriminatory citizenship provisions, laying the groundwork for the denationalization of thousands of Afro-Caribbean Panamanians. In 1982, Myanmar (then Burma) adopted a citizenship law that stripped the Rohingya— a predominantly Muslim ethnic minority from Rakhine State — of their citizenship. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the Rohingya constitute the world's largest stateless population, with approximately 1.8 million people lacking nationality. Although denationalization does not invariably result in statelessness, it has frequently produced that outcome, leaving many of the communities targeted by such policies without the protection of any state. 

As Audrey Macklin asserts in her chapter “The Return of Banishment: Do the New Denationalization Policies Weaken Citizenship?” in the book “Debating Transformations of National Citizenship,” “defenders of citizenship revocation liturgically intone that ‘citizenship is a privilege, not a right,’” an honor that some authoritarian leaders believe must be earned with fidelity to the political path they have envisioned proper for the country.

Narrative: Those who betray their homeland surrender their right to belong

On February 9, 2023, the Nicaraguan government released 222 political prisoners and deported them to the United States. On the same day, the National Assembly — controlled by the ruling party — unanimously approved a constitutional reform authorizing the revocation of the nationality of individuals declared “traitors to the homeland.” These amendments were enacted through Law No. 1145 and were subsequently incorporated into the Law on the Partial Reform of the Political Constitution of the Republic of Nicaragua. On February 15, 2023, the Nicaraguan government revoked the nationality of an additional 94 Nicaraguans. 

Screenshot from the video “90 Años y Sandino Vive, Vive, Vive, y la Lucha Sigue, Sigue, Sigue…!” on the El 19 Digital YouTube channel; fair use.

A year later, on February 21, 2024, in a speech to celebrate the 90th death anniversary of revolutionary Augusto Nicolás Calderón Sandino, co-President of Nicaragua Daniel Ortega said, “those who betray their homeland cease to belong to that country and cease to have a homeland; that is why those who betray their homeland are called stateless.” In Spanish, homeland is “patria,” and “apátrida” is used to refer to a stateless person. Ortega uses “traición a la patria” and “apátrida” in his statement to equate treason to the homeland (“traición a la patria”) with statelessness.

Ortega made these remarks referring to Adolfo Díaz y Emiliano Chamorro, two former presidents of Nicaragua during the first half of the 20th century, and to the more than 300 people he deprived of their citizenship — comparing those in exile to the two past conservative leaders of the country who favored the United States occupation of Nicaragua (1912–1933), against which Sandino fought.

Members of the current Nicaraguan government and press affiliated with it echo this narrative and the belief that expressing dissent against the current administration is an act of treason that must be penalized with the removal of nationality.

This narrative is also shared outside Nicaragua. In July 2025, Cambodia revised its constitution and passed new legislation authorizing the government to strip Khmer citizenship from individuals found guilty of treason, collaborating with foreign entities, or threatening national security. Referring to the regulation, as reported by Global Voices, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet, the son of Senate President Hun Sen, stated:

If you are a patriot and are determined to your last breath not to act against Cambodian interests, please do not worry. But if you have a plan to conspire with a foreign country to destroy Cambodian interests, then you should be [concerned]. And, if you are like that, you should not remain a Cambodian

In July 2026, Russia's parliament passed a law that sends a similar message to dissidents. Under the legislation, Russians living abroad and evading politically motivated charges can be stripped of property rights, access to bank accounts, and consular services — a package of measures that lawyers say effectively amounts to a revocation of citizenship. 

The context surrounding the narrative

Daniel Ortega is a former guerrilla fighter who helped overthrow President Anastasio Somoza Debayle in July 1979. Somoza Debayle was the last member of the Somoza family to rule Nicaragua, ending a U.S. backed dynasty that had governed the country since 1936. Ortega first served as Nicaragua's president from 1985 to 1990, representing the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), the political party that emerged from the guerrilla movement he belonged to.

From 1990 to 2006, Nicaragua shifted from civil war and Sandinista governance to a multiparty democratic system under the leadership of three consecutive presidents — Violeta Chamorro, Arnoldo Alemán, and Enrique Bolaños — before Daniel Ortega regained the presidency by winning the 2006 election. 

Daniel Ortega has ruled Nicaragua since 2007. Following constitutional amendments approved in 2024, he began sharing the presidency with his wife, Rosario Murillo, in 2025.

The Ortega–Murillo administration is widely regarded as authoritarian by numerous international organizations. According to Amnesty International, the Nicaraguan government has consolidated authoritarian control and intensified its suppression of dissent. The organization reports arbitrary detention and enforced disappearances of political opponents, as well as restrictions on freedom of expression, association, and religion. It also documents the continued harassment of journalists, human rights defenders, and civil society organizations. Amnesty International notes that constitutional reforms have expanded state powers while weakening safeguards against abuses, including removing the constitutional prohibition of torture.

The political crisis in Nicaragua has been escalating since 2018, when social protests, sparked by proposed Social Security reforms, reflected years of growing public discontent over restrictions on civic freedoms, weakened institutions, and the concentration of power in the Executive branch. The state's violent crackdown left at least 355 people dead, more than 2,000 injured, and over 2,000 arbitrarily detained.

Ortega and his followers claim to represent the legacy of Augusto César Sandino, a controversial revolutionary who fought for national sovereignty, opposed U.S. intervention in Nicaragua during the 1920s, and inspired the Sandinista movement. 

U.S. interventions in Nicaragua occurred on several occasions, most notably William Walker’s filibustering expedition in the mid-nineteenth century, the prolonged U.S. military occupation from 1912 to 1933, and U.S. support for the Contras, a counterrevolutionary armed movement that fought against the FSLN's Junta of National Reconstruction and the presidency of Daniel Ortega during the 1980s. 

Ortega has presented himself as one of the significant anti-imperialist leaders of Latin America, together with Fidel Castro (Cuba) and Hugo Chávez Frías (Venezuela). In his discourse, dissidents are considered “traitors of the homeland” and are often linked to imperialist efforts considered to come mainly from the U.S. 

The over 300 Nicaraguans who were stripped of their nationality include opposition members, journalists, human rights defenders, writers, and representatives of the Catholic Church. Right after the Nicaraguan government announced its decision, the governments of Mexico, Spain, Chile, and Argentina offered to naturalize those who had recently become stateless.

On July 19, 2026, Daniel Ortega announced that “there will be no more elections” in the country. Nicaragua's presidential election was set for 2027 after a constitutional reform postponed the vote from its original schedule at the end of this year.

Written by Civic Media Observatory, Samanta Azpurua

Nicaragua’s president justifies revoking the citizenship of dissidents

Originally published on Global Voices

Feature image created by Global Voices using Canva Pro elements.

This story is part of Undertones, Global Voices’ Civic Media Observatory’s newsletter and column. Subscribe to Undertones. This post is also part of Global Voices’ July 2026 Spotlight series, “Statelessness.” This series offers insight into the issue of statelessness and how it hinders people’s freedom of movement, educational opportunities, political access, and more. You can support this coverage by donating here. 

Throughout history, denationalization has been widely employed by states to exclude or expel individuals deemed undesirable, including political dissidents, convicted criminals, and members of ethnic, religious, or racial minority groups. 

In the late 1930s, Germany, Italy, and France enacted discriminatory nationality laws that revoked citizenship from targeted groups, particularly — though not exclusively — recently naturalized Jews, thereby facilitating their persecution. In 1941, Panamanian president Arnulfo Arias introduced a new constitution that promoted an exclusionary form of nationalism and established discriminatory citizenship provisions, laying the groundwork for the denationalization of thousands of Afro-Caribbean Panamanians. In 1982, Myanmar (then Burma) adopted a citizenship law that stripped the Rohingya— a predominantly Muslim ethnic minority from Rakhine State — of their citizenship. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the Rohingya constitute the world's largest stateless population, with approximately 1.8 million people lacking nationality. Although denationalization does not invariably result in statelessness, it has frequently produced that outcome, leaving many of the communities targeted by such policies without the protection of any state. 

As Audrey Macklin asserts in her chapter “The Return of Banishment: Do the New Denationalization Policies Weaken Citizenship?” in the book “Debating Transformations of National Citizenship,” “defenders of citizenship revocation liturgically intone that ‘citizenship is a privilege, not a right,’” an honor that some authoritarian leaders believe must be earned with fidelity to the political path they have envisioned proper for the country.

Narrative: Those who betray their homeland surrender their right to belong

On February 9, 2023, the Nicaraguan government released 222 political prisoners and deported them to the United States. On the same day, the National Assembly — controlled by the ruling party — unanimously approved a constitutional reform authorizing the revocation of the nationality of individuals declared “traitors to the homeland.” These amendments were enacted through Law No. 1145 and were subsequently incorporated into the Law on the Partial Reform of the Political Constitution of the Republic of Nicaragua. On February 15, 2023, the Nicaraguan government revoked the nationality of an additional 94 Nicaraguans. 

Screenshot from the video “90 Años y Sandino Vive, Vive, Vive, y la Lucha Sigue, Sigue, Sigue…!” on the El 19 Digital YouTube channel; fair use.

A year later, on February 21, 2024, in a speech to celebrate the 90th death anniversary of revolutionary Augusto Nicolás Calderón Sandino, co-President of Nicaragua Daniel Ortega said, “those who betray their homeland cease to belong to that country and cease to have a homeland; that is why those who betray their homeland are called stateless.” In Spanish, homeland is “patria,” and “apátrida” is used to refer to a stateless person. Ortega uses “traición a la patria” and “apátrida” in his statement to equate treason to the homeland (“traición a la patria”) with statelessness.

Ortega made these remarks referring to Adolfo Díaz y Emiliano Chamorro, two former presidents of Nicaragua during the first half of the 20th century, and to the more than 300 people he deprived of their citizenship — comparing those in exile to the two past conservative leaders of the country who favored the United States occupation of Nicaragua (1912–1933), against which Sandino fought.

Members of the current Nicaraguan government and press affiliated with it echo this narrative and the belief that expressing dissent against the current administration is an act of treason that must be penalized with the removal of nationality.

This narrative is also shared outside Nicaragua. In July 2025, Cambodia revised its constitution and passed new legislation authorizing the government to strip Khmer citizenship from individuals found guilty of treason, collaborating with foreign entities, or threatening national security. Referring to the regulation, as reported by Global Voices, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet, the son of Senate President Hun Sen, stated:

If you are a patriot and are determined to your last breath not to act against Cambodian interests, please do not worry. But if you have a plan to conspire with a foreign country to destroy Cambodian interests, then you should be [concerned]. And, if you are like that, you should not remain a Cambodian

In July 2026, Russia's parliament passed a law that sends a similar message to dissidents. Under the legislation, Russians living abroad and evading politically motivated charges can be stripped of property rights, access to bank accounts, and consular services — a package of measures that lawyers say effectively amounts to a revocation of citizenship. 

The context surrounding the narrative

Daniel Ortega is a former guerrilla fighter who helped overthrow President Anastasio Somoza Debayle in July 1979. Somoza Debayle was the last member of the Somoza family to rule Nicaragua, ending a U.S. backed dynasty that had governed the country since 1936. Ortega first served as Nicaragua's president from 1985 to 1990, representing the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), the political party that emerged from the guerrilla movement he belonged to.

From 1990 to 2006, Nicaragua shifted from civil war and Sandinista governance to a multiparty democratic system under the leadership of three consecutive presidents — Violeta Chamorro, Arnoldo Alemán, and Enrique Bolaños — before Daniel Ortega regained the presidency by winning the 2006 election. 

Daniel Ortega has ruled Nicaragua since 2007. Following constitutional amendments approved in 2024, he began sharing the presidency with his wife, Rosario Murillo, in 2025.

The Ortega–Murillo administration is widely regarded as authoritarian by numerous international organizations. According to Amnesty International, the Nicaraguan government has consolidated authoritarian control and intensified its suppression of dissent. The organization reports arbitrary detention and enforced disappearances of political opponents, as well as restrictions on freedom of expression, association, and religion. It also documents the continued harassment of journalists, human rights defenders, and civil society organizations. Amnesty International notes that constitutional reforms have expanded state powers while weakening safeguards against abuses, including removing the constitutional prohibition of torture.

The political crisis in Nicaragua has been escalating since 2018, when social protests, sparked by proposed Social Security reforms, reflected years of growing public discontent over restrictions on civic freedoms, weakened institutions, and the concentration of power in the Executive branch. The state's violent crackdown left at least 355 people dead, more than 2,000 injured, and over 2,000 arbitrarily detained.

Ortega and his followers claim to represent the legacy of Augusto César Sandino, a controversial revolutionary who fought for national sovereignty, opposed U.S. intervention in Nicaragua during the 1920s, and inspired the Sandinista movement. 

U.S. interventions in Nicaragua occurred on several occasions, most notably William Walker’s filibustering expedition in the mid-nineteenth century, the prolonged U.S. military occupation from 1912 to 1933, and U.S. support for the Contras, a counterrevolutionary armed movement that fought against the FSLN's Junta of National Reconstruction and the presidency of Daniel Ortega during the 1980s. 

Ortega has presented himself as one of the significant anti-imperialist leaders of Latin America, together with Fidel Castro (Cuba) and Hugo Chávez Frías (Venezuela). In his discourse, dissidents are considered “traitors of the homeland” and are often linked to imperialist efforts considered to come mainly from the U.S. 

The over 300 Nicaraguans who were stripped of their nationality include opposition members, journalists, human rights defenders, writers, and representatives of the Catholic Church. Right after the Nicaraguan government announced its decision, the governments of Mexico, Spain, Chile, and Argentina offered to naturalize those who had recently become stateless.

On July 19, 2026, Daniel Ortega announced that “there will be no more elections” in the country. Nicaragua's presidential election was set for 2027 after a constitutional reform postponed the vote from its original schedule at the end of this year.

Written by Civic Media Observatory, Samanta Azpurua