Five years after the Civic Rebellion of April 2018, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) expressed its solidarity with the victims and relatives of the serious human rights violations perpetrated by the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo.
In a statement, the organization urges the restoration of a democratic regime in Nicaragua, through free, participatory and transparent elections; a system of checks and balances; and processes aimed at guaranteeing the right to truth, justice and reparation.
According to the IACHR, the demonstrations “spontaneously reflected the social discontent accumulated over the years in the face of institutional processes that were restricting citizen expression, co-opting public institutions and concentrating public powers in the Executive.”
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It adds that in the country there were “factors such as the de facto installation of a state of emergency, the breach of the principle of separation of powers and the lack of access to an independent, equal and equitable justice system.”
“The repressive and violent state response to protests and dissent continues to this day. The IACHR identified different stages and levels of intensity, which unleashed a political, social, economic and human rights crisis, which continues to deepen,” he highlights.
The agency has documented since 2018 at least 355 people; more than 2 thousand injuries; 2,090 political prisoners; 322 people arbitrarily deprived of their nationality; and more than 3,000 civil society organizations cancelled.
In addition, as of March 31, 2023, 36 people remain arbitrarily detained. More than 400 dismissals of health workers are also reported for carrying out their work or for having a critical position towards the government.
In this context of repression, it is recorded that more than 150 students were expelled from their universities; More than a dozen private universities and study centers have been forcibly closed in order to limit academic freedom throughout the country.
“All human rights violations documented from 2018 to date are in total impunity due to the lack of independence of public powers and, in particular, the absence of an impartial and independent justice system, which maintains a climate of terror and censorship in the population,” he says.
Finally, the IACHR called on the States of the region and the international community to promote a return to democracy and the full validity of the Rule of Law in Nicaragua.
