Nicaraguan defenders exposed the “systematic violations” perpetrated by the Daniel Ortega regime, highlighting the illegalization ordered this Wednesday of 25 NGOs, pointing to the fact as an “annihilation of human rights.”
During the forum entitled “Voices of exile-Voices of hope”, the activist Haydée Castillo stressed that in Nicaragua “the existence of civil society, non-governmental organizations, independent journalism and the defense of human rights from the citizenry is fundamental , it becomes a necessity for life».
Related news: Ortega regime “beheads” CPDH and 24 other NGOs
This April 20, with 74 votes in favor, zero against, 15 abstentions and one present, the Nicaraguan regime, through its steamroller of Sandinista deputies in the National Assembly, canceled the legal personality of 25 non-profit organizations. . Among the entities annulled by the government of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo are the Permanent Commission on Human Rights (CPDH), the only one in that area that remained in the country working legally.
The defenders also stressed that four years into the civic struggle “the siege, repression, migration and impunity continue for the victims who, on the contrary, only suffer persecution from the Ortega regime and its paramilitaries. Ladies and gentlemen, this is not life, Nicaraguans do not expect the international community to solve their problems because they continue to fight against the monster, but when there is a kidnapping in the best style of organized crime, the chains cannot be broken alone, that is why the The international community should not wait for blood to continue to flow, but rather assume its obligations in terms of universal rights,” Castillo continued.
In the virtual meeting organized by the International Human Rights Network, the lawyer Wendy Flores, representative of the Nicaraguan Never Again Human Rights Collective, denounced that in four years of civic struggle the dictatorship has “approved repressive laws such as the Law for the regulation of agents Aliens, the Conspiracy Act and the Cybercrime Act, all aimed at restricting rights.
In addition to seven imprisoned presidential candidates, human rights activists, journalists, businessmen, diplomats and former guerrillas who fought against the Somoza dictatorship in Ortega prisons, they are in the new Directorate of Judicial Assistance known as “El Chipote” which It is considered a torture center.
Related news: Political prisoners of “El Chipote”, “monitored” and without the right to talk
To date, the Ortega justice system holds captive more than 180 people imprisoned for political reasons, 35 of them are in the Directorate of Judicial Assistance in Managua. Their families have reported that many have medical complications.
Currently, with the closure of the CPDH, there is no organization left in defense of human rights legalized in Nicaragua. Since 2018, this NGO suffered siege and harassment of its directors and lawyers. Ortega’s justice system holds lawyer María Oviedo captive for the alleged crime of “conspiracy to undermine national integrity.”
