as you say, with the stripping of the citizenship, notjust of the 222 prisoners released, but also another 90 activists who have since had their citizenship taken away from them the latin american leaderships in countries like mexico, colombia, argentina, brazil have been very quiet, haven t they? have you noticed? i have noticed that, but i have a different perspective. i think that for the very first time in decades, and i can say that myself, as someone who testified in front of the un security council in geneva, at the human rights council as well, and travel latin america, five to seven years ago, it was very hard to mobilize certain people who had previous sympathies to the sandinista revolution. that is not the case any more. it s very clear that the 0rtega of today has nothing to do with the sandinistas of the 1980s and is being abandoned, isolated even by former friends. i think that is very powerful that we have many of the progressive leaders of latin america
just before we end, i want to again get personal with you. and it s a reflection on your extraordinary personal story, because you first entered the united states as an unaccompanied minor, aged 12. you trekked across guatemala and mexico and got into texas and then ended up getting an education in florida as an immigrant. as i said earlier, hundreds of thousands of nicaraguans right now are trying to make a new life in costa rica or trying to get to the united states. for you with your special perspective as a political leader who actually was a child migrant, do you believe that nicaraguans who leave the country today are doing the right thing for themselves and their families? i think they are, because no one can call a country their own if they cannot pursue their dreams, if they cannot be free, if they cannot pursue an education for their children, and they re doing it because they don t have
have a petroleum, oil. we don t have geopolitical importance to the level of venezuela, for example. so i ve been working very hard in explaining even before that in books, for example, that we published back in 2009, explaining 0rtega s dangerous relationship with iran, with russia, with china. and i think that little by little that is being taken into account, not at the speed that we wanted, but we hope that this is a new phase of international diplomacy against the 0rtega regime that would allow us to isolate completely that police state. but to be clear, when you talk about isolation, i always wonder how far you really think you want the international community to go? nicaragua is the second poorest country in the western hemisphere, second only to haiti. your people in nicaragua are so poor and so desperate. hundreds of thousands of them every year are trying to escape the country, whether to costa rica or through guatemala and mexico, to try to reach the united states.
it s very hard for him to justify in front of his supporters that we are a criminals who fought against nicaraguan sovereignty, and suddenly we re placed in a plane and sent to the united states and received by, frankly, as heroes, not only by the nicaraguan community, but by the international community as well. and on top of that, given our voices back to continue explaining what the situation in nicaragua is, 0rtega has to work very hard to explain that decision. i think that dictators released political prisoners not because they want to, but because they don t have any other option. let s just talk about what it meant to you personally, getting off that plane in washington. i believe that your wife and your daughter, who s obviously very young i think she s nine years old they were able to be reunited very quickly with you when you got off the plane after more than 600 days in very difficult captivity. what was that like?
this is bbc news. i m victoria valentine with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. the head of britain s m15 says he s profoundly sorry the security service didn t prevent the manchester arena bombing. gathering covid intelligence is difficult, but had we managed to seize the slim chance we had, those impacted might not have experienced such appalling loss and trauma. guilty verdicts. disgraced lawyer alex murdaugh is convicted of murdering his wife and son at a trial in south carolina. america s secretary of state meets with allies in the indo pacific region: