Amnesty International (AI) awarded the “Flame of Hope” recognition to the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (Cenidh) for its dedicated and effective work in favor of the work of human rights defenders.
The recognition was delivered at the organization’s 2023 Annual General Assembly. The statuette was received by Yahir Zavaleta, regional coordinator of Amnesty International’s Diversxs Project
«From Nicaragua, the defenders of @cenidh express our deep gratitude to the Venezuelan section of @amnistia for delivering this recognition during the celebration of its Annual Assembly. A right that is not defended is a right that is lost!” Cenidh thanked on its Twitter account.
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The statuette in the form of a moving flame “symbolizes the promise of the passion of activism as a beacon against the darkness of discrimination, lack of freedom and misery”, as explained by the organizers in previous years.
Cenidh was the first human rights organization that the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo ordered to strip away its legal personality in December 2018, in the first months of the sociopolitical crisis.
After this stripping of legal personality, his building in Managua was confiscated. It was located in the security perimeter of the Ortega y Murillo residence in Reparto El Carmen. Months later, the property was handed over to the Ministry of Health (Minsa).
Dr. Vilma Núñez is the founding president of Cenidh, she has also suffered reprisals from the regime. On February 15, 2023, she was stripped of her Nicaraguan nationality after being declared a traitor to her country.
On May 12, his license as a lawyer and notary public was also taken away, according to a resolution of the Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ), at the service of the regime. In addition, she was ordered to hand over her professional titles before the Judiciary.
Cenidh has been a voice of denunciation for Nicaraguans since before Ortega came to power; he even accompanied Zoilamérica Narváez Murillo in her rape complaint against the dictator. That fact has earned him the persecution of the regime.
Since 2018, he has accompanied the victims of state repression; to the relatives of political prisoners and has denounced violations of the human rights of Nicaraguans in international organizations and forums.
