# Nicaragua refuses to release acquitted American **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 20, 2007, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nicaragua-refuses-to-release-acquitted-american/430743 "2007-12-20T19:26:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2007, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nicaragua-refuses-to-release-acquitted-american/430743/21 "2007-12-21T05:59:33Z")
All countries suck except Canada. There. I’ve leveled the playing field, bitches. Suck my mighty maple leaf! ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2007, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nicaragua-refuses-to-release-acquitted-american/430743/22 "2007-12-21T06:16:05Z")
**Darth Nader** : I am not really sure how to respond here. I wasn’t trying to twist things away from the OP. You obviously understood that my remark was a joke, just as I presumed you were also joking with your link to U.S. interventions in Latin America. I wasn’t saying “Fuck you” to anyone in the thread, nor was I trying to minimize the seriousness of the Nicaraguan situation. I agree that there’s a lot of bad stuff out there. As far as “sucking you in” with my “playground crusade”-- hell, this is the SDMB, innit? It’s ALL playground crusades. Unless there’s a “Change the World” forum I’ve overlooked up to now, in which case I have a few threads I’d like to open. In any case, I was not trying to suck you into a crusade; and I hereby promise that I will never knowingly attempt to suck you. I agree that this misunderstanding has hijacked the OP’s thread unacceptably. If you’re still upset with me about this, feel free to hit me with my own Pit thread. However, it’s about 1 AM where I am, so: I sleep now. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Nader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Darth\_Nader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Nader)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2007, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nicaragua-refuses-to-release-acquitted-american/430743/23 "2007-12-21T06:24:18Z")
**Terrifel** , you are dead right. I neither want to fight or have sex with you, (Though I’m sure either would be a great time,) and it sucks we had to argue. Clearly the only thing left is to tuck ourselves in on the other sides of the bed and say good night. Just don’t tell my wife, okay? I’m sorry to everyone. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2007, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nicaragua-refuses-to-release-acquitted-american/430743/24 "2007-12-21T13:49:00Z")
Hey! Take your pissing match to some other thread! I’d be glad to pile on the US administration there with you. But this is about a specific person being railroaded into a long jail term in a third world country because they’re mad at rich foreigners coming in and investing in their country. It’s hard to find out what’s going on now because no one from the Nicaraguan judicial system or government will talk to Maggie (his mother), but apparently, despite the release order from the appellate court, they (whoever ‘they’ are) plan on continuing to hold Eric in prison until the prosecutor’s appeal is heard by the Supreme Court. And oh, yeah, **there is no time limit for the Court to act**. So basically, unless there is some kind of intervention, he could remain in jail indefinitely (until he dies from a minor medical affliction like his kidney stones or asthma, or is shanked by another prisoner or guard who will then become a national folk hero). ---
**Author:** ![flight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbce88/32.png) [@flight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flight)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2007, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nicaragua-refuses-to-release-acquitted-american/430743/25 "2007-12-21T15:27:57Z")
As annoying as the hijack is, there is a point to be found in it. Rice’s ability to put pressure on Nicaragua to quickly release someone due to a court order is seriously hampered by our own domestic issues. I imagine she is hesitant to enter into a discussion where those parallels are likely to be brought up. ---
**Author:** ![brazil84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8491ac/32.png) [@brazil84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brazil84)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2007, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nicaragua-refuses-to-release-acquitted-american/430743/26 "2007-12-21T16:35:10Z")
Procedurally, is the case over? I gather that the answer is no, since the prosecutors can apparantly appeal to the highest court in Nicaragua. But as a practical matter, the Nicaraguans must realize that releasing him means that the case is over. Because he will certainly leave the country and never come back. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2007, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nicaragua-refuses-to-release-acquitted-american/430743/27 "2007-12-21T18:22:30Z")
MSNBC has an excellent update: [Will Nicaragua ever set Eric Volz free?](http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/22357315) > [@MSNBC](#): > > Volz had been held for the past 45 days in a prison hospital, where he was being treated for gastrointestinal ailments, kidney stones and asthma. He was ordered returned to prison on Thursday because the judge who convicted him has refused to sign his release papers. > > …The judge who found Volz guilty, Ivette Toruno Blanco, refused to consider evidence from witnesses and cell phone records that placed Volz in Managua at the time the murder was committed. She also found him guilty of rape despite the fact that investigators found no evidence that she had been sexually assaulted. > > On Monday, a Nicaraguan appellate court, in a 2-1 decision, found there was no evidence that Volz committed the crime and ordered his immediate release. Since then, Blanco has made a series of excuses for not signing the papers, saying she had a flat tire, the court documents were not numbered correctly, and even saying they weren’t stapled properly. Bitch! Let him go already! ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2007, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nicaragua-refuses-to-release-acquitted-american/430743/28 "2007-12-21T18:34:48Z")
[QUOTE=flight] As annoying as the hijack is, there is a point to be found in it. Rice’s ability to put pressure on Nicaragua to quickly release someone due to a court order is seriously hampered by our own domestic issues. I imagine she is hesitant to enter into a discussion where those parallels are likely to be brought up. [/QUOTE] Yes this is true. It took the UK years to get its innocent citizens released from US torture in Guantanamo (and they never had any trial or legal representation nor hope of appeal). The US is full of decent people and has a fine Constitution, but there is a real blotch on its reputation. I hope this American gets justice quickly. ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2007, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nicaragua-refuses-to-release-acquitted-american/430743/29 "2007-12-21T18:43:39Z")
[QUOTE=flight] As annoying as the hijack is, there is a point to be found in it. Rice’s ability to put pressure on Nicaragua to quickly release someone due to a court order is seriously hampered by our own domestic issues. I imagine she is hesitant to enter into a discussion where those parallels are likely to be brought up. [/QUOTE] Gotta agree with this. As far as hijacks go, if Ms. Rice has commented directly on the issue, then I think it’s certainly fair to note that from an international perspective it would be very odd for her to comment too forcefully about how Nicaragua ought to treat prisioners, considering the corner the US has painted itself into in that regard. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2007, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nicaragua-refuses-to-release-acquitted-american/430743/30 "2007-12-21T19:26:18Z")
Reports are coming in that Volz has been released. I hope so! I wasn’t familiar with this case before, but it sounds like a gross miscarriage of justice. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2007, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nicaragua-refuses-to-release-acquitted-american/430743/31 "2007-12-21T19:40:45Z")
Yes, CNN is reporting his release as breaking news. Let’s hope he can get to safety quickly. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2007, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nicaragua-refuses-to-release-acquitted-american/430743/32 "2007-12-21T21:57:23Z")
I got a bad feeling about this. I remember the staged “spontaneous demonstrations” in Iran, just before the Embassy was seized. I hope he makes it to the airport before a “spontaneous” lynch mob forms. ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2007, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nicaragua-refuses-to-release-acquitted-american/430743/33 "2007-12-21T22:07:59Z")
Msnbc sure has an [odd view](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22361943/) on this: > [@MSNBC](#): > > An appeals court on Monday overturned Volz’s conviction in the death of 25-year-old Doris Ivania Jimenez, enraging prosecutors, human rights and women’s rights activists who believe Volz is guilty. That’s the first I’ve heard that “human rights and women’s rights activists” were outraged over this. I wonder if they’re simply repeating part of a news story from the Nicaraguan press. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Shayna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shayna/32/17976_2.png) [@Shayna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shayna)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2007, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nicaragua-refuses-to-release-acquitted-american/430743/34 "2007-12-22T04:11:49Z")
CNN now reports: > [@](#): > > An American man held in a Nicaraguan jail was released Friday and left the country. . . > > Volz left Nicaragua on Friday afternoon, said Eddie Vasquez, a spokesman for the U.S. State Department. Hallelujah! ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2007, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nicaragua-refuses-to-release-acquitted-american/430743/35 "2007-12-22T04:58:39Z")
Yes! We’ve heard from the family that Eric is out of Nicaragua and has been taken to an undisclosed location (apparently outside the US) for his protection. There were death threats and suspicions that he was being followed, hence the secrecy. Hopefully, he’ll be able to return to the US soon and be reunited with his family. **Ponder Stibbons** , I hadn’t heard about the “women’s rights groups” and “human rights groups” being upset, unless that indeed refers to groups within Nicaragua. The press has fueled speculation that the appeals court was bribed by the “rich Americans” to free Eric. In any case, the ordeal finally seems to be about over. Praise God! ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2007, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nicaragua-refuses-to-release-acquitted-american/430743/36 "2007-12-22T07:22:22Z")
[QUOTE=Bryan Ekers] All countries suck except Canada. [/QUOTE] …which blows? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![wring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2007, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nicaragua-refuses-to-release-acquitted-american/430743/37 "2007-12-22T13:43:12Z")
> [@TheLoadedDog](#): > > \*Last edited by TheLoadedDog : Today at 02:23 AM. Reason: Canadians ate my coding. - but I’ll bet they did it politely [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nicaragua-refuses-to-release-acquitted-american/430743.md?page=1)