Freed American says more U.S. citizens remain in Nicaraguan jails By Emily Flitter and Mary Slosson NEW YORK (Reuters) - When a guard at a Nicaraguan prison showed Jason Puracal the newspaper headline saying he would be freed, he tried to walk out of jail that instant, only to be sent back to his cell. A few days later, however, Puracal, the U.S. citizen who was jailed in Nicaragua two years ago after being wrongfully convicted of drug trafficking and money laundering, walked free. "The whole process has been very surreal," Puracal, 35, said in an interview with Reuters on Monday. He said he had faced hunger, squalid conditions and the constant threat of violence while in prison. "It's a very hot, dirty, crowded, insect-infested place," he said. I would just think of my son. He was the ray of hope that kept me going. And Puracal says there are more like him in the prison where he was held, innocent people, some of whom are U.S. citizens, serving long sentences after being wrongfully convicted. "I've been told there's literally hundreds," he said. Puracal was detained by Nicaraguan authorities in November 2010 and found guilty by a trial judge nine months later along with 10 co-defendants, all of them Nicaraguan nationals. He initially received a 22-year prison sentence but was released last week after a campaign by international rights activists to overturn his conviction. An appeals court ordered that his trial be annulled because the judge did not substantiate the reasons for his verdict and excluded evidence defense attorneys wanted to present. Puracal said he had no idea why he was targeted by Nicaraguan authorities. Puracal's co-defendants, who also were released under the court order, testified they had never met or worked with him, and the prosecution's own witnesses said Puracal was innocent, according to his legal team. Puracal became a cause célèbre for human rights activists in the United States and around the world, with U.S. lawmakers appealing to Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and a former high-ranking U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration official launching a massive petition drive on Puracal's behalf. His sister Janice spearheaded the earliest attempts to win his freedom. "She's exhausted all of her resources - all of the family's resources," he said, adding the family had spent more than $500,000 to overturn his conviction. He married a Nicaraguan woman, with whom he has a son, now 5 years old. Puracal said he may someday return to Nicaragua to finish the community development work he was doing before he was arrested. He also hopes to help others fight wrongful imprisonment. And he has learned this lesson: "Never stop saying I love you to the people in your life." Editing by Bill Trott