Luis Manuel Chavarría Galeano could be sent back to Nicaragua after being detained in Florida. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) says the journalist would face serious danger there because of his independent reporting and past persecution. The organisation is urging Spain to intervene before his immigration hearing on 2 October.
Chavarría is being held at Baker Correctional Institution after his arrest in Orlando on 14 September, while working as an Uber driver. He directs the radio programme Café con Voz. Spain granted him nationality in 2025, giving Madrid a consular role in his case. The Committee to Protect Journalists described him as an exiled Nicaraguan journalist and called for his release after his detention in the United States.
The Spanish government approved his nationality through the naturalisation-by-charter procedure under Royal Decree 449/2025 of 3 June. The measure appeared in the Official State Gazette on 4 July 2025. RSF has asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Spanish Consulate General in Miami to activate all available protection and consular assistance mechanisms immediately.
RSF wants Washington formally informed that Chavarría is a Spanish citizen and an exiled journalist. It is also asking Spanish diplomats to seek an alternative to his removal to Nicaragua. If the United States orders his expulsion, the organisation says the government should explore ways to help his transfer to Spain.
RSF links the risk to Chavarría’s record in Nicaragua. He left the country in 2018 after repression intensified against social protests and independent media. In February 2023, Nicaraguan authorities stripped him and 93 other citizens of their nationality and labelled them “traitors to the homeland”. RSF says those circumstances make his return particularly dangerous because he was forced into exile after practising his profession as a journalist.
The February 2023 nationality-stripping order affected 94 people, including prominent figures such as Sergio Ramírez, Gioconda Belli, Silvio Báez, Vilma Núñez, Carlos Fernando Chamorro and Luis Carrión. The Committee to Protect Journalists and The Guardian said the episode showed the breadth of the Ortega-Murillo government’s pressure on opponents, including journalists and human-rights defenders.
RSF’s request focuses on two Spanish institutions with direct tools at their disposal: the foreign ministry and the consulate in Miami. The organisation wants them to inform the United States of Chavarría’s legal status and pursue a diplomatic solution to prevent his return to Nicaragua. The broader question of protecting people in exile has also arisen in a related exile case.
Spain’s position is especially impressive because the nationality decision came only months before the detention described by RSF. That does not determine the outcome of the US immigration proceedings, but it gives Madrid a concrete consular basis for action. RSF’s request is specific: protect Chavarría in Florida and oppose his deportation to Nicaragua. If removal becomes unavoidable, the organisation wants Spain to prepare a route for his transfer there.
The timeline underpins RSF’s call for immediate diplomatic involvement. Chavarría fled Nicaragua after repression and later received Spanish nationality. He now faces detention and a possible return to the country he left. RSF wants Spain to use its consular and diplomatic tools before the 2 October hearing, rather than wait for a deportation order.
