The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) held an ordinary session this Friday where the situation of people in Nicaragua who have been granted precautionary measures since the crisis began in 2018 was exposed.
Edgar Stuardo Ralón, first vice president of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and who was in charge of the session, gave the floor to civil society organizations in the absence of representatives of the Nicaraguan government.
Carmen Herrera, from the Institute of Race and Equality, highlighted that a large part of the beneficiaries of precautionary measures were detained between 2018 and 2021 for exercising their rights to civic protest, freedom of expression and right of assembly.
“A large part of the political prisoners participated in the protests and were detained with an excessive and disproportionate use of force to the point of suffering physical injuries that have not yet been adequately treated,” Herrera lamented.
The activist said that the precautionary measures cover 60 people, of whom 44 remain in prison for political reasons and only seven have been released.
“The remaining nine people are relatives, including five children and adolescents. Those of us who are here represent 56 of the beneficiaries. These people were arrested between 2018 and 2021 for exercising their rights to civic protest, freedom of expression and the right to assemble,” Herrera recorded.
Alexandra Salazar, from the Nicaraguan Legal Defense Unit, stated that the health situation of political prisoners in the country continues to be critical.
It also recalled that the IACHR referred to the State in its resolutions granting these measures that it guarantees access to a specialized medical evaluation of their current health situation and that they are granted treatment and the necessary medications.
He stressed that none of the beneficiaries of these precautionary measures should be deprived of liberty.
“We believe that, as the Inter-American Court has already ordered in the cases of other persons deprived of liberty for political reasons, this illustrious Commission should request their immediate release,” he added.
He explained that only this would prevent “continuation of the damage to the rights to life and integrity that led the representations to request precautionary measures.”
In this sense, Karina Sánchez, from the Mesoamerican Women’s Human Rights Initiative, stressed that “the regime” has unleashed since April 2018 a “repression” that has been generalized, “systematic and deeply patriarchal”, and one of the main objectives has been the women who defend rights.
Similarly, he recapitulated that according to the Mesoamerican Registry of Aggressive Women, only from January 2020 to May 2022 there have been 4,141 attacks, which represents an approximate average of 4.7 attacks per day on women.
Lawyer Carlos Guadamuz, from the Nicaragua Never Again Collective, points out that despite the precautionary measures, torture in Nicaragua continues to be a systematic and widespread practice, “which exacerbates the situation of vulnerability and defenselessness of political prisoners.”
He stated that during the last six months, opponents detained for political reasons “have been victims of beatings, death threats, indefinite imprisonment or having their children taken from them.”
“We know that some beneficiaries have been hung with shackles on their hands from a gate in the penitentiary. They have also suffered incommunicado detention with their families for long periods or unjustified suspension of visits in communication with the outside world without access to any kind of news, reading or religious material,” said the activist, exiled in Costa Rica
During the hearing, the testimony of a mother of a political prisoner who did not identify herself for fear of reprisals who exposed the detention of her son in 2018 was projected.
“We know the cruelty. It is one of the most bloodthirsty and corrupt regimes in Latin American history,” denounced her mother.
The government of Daniel Ortega denies the accusations of human rights violations and maintains that the 2018 protests were a coup attempt to overthrow him.
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