The Center for Inter-American Legal Assistance in Human Rights (Calidh) reproached the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo for annulling professional titles “as political retaliation” against Nicaraguans who disagree with their authoritarianism.
The agency bases its statement on complaints it received from those affected, for which it points out that “this action is not possible if it is not justified by crimes.”
Related news: Calidh: “States cannot take away nationality because it is inherent to the human being”
In addition, it warns that this is a “new form of repression” carried out by the Nicaraguan dictatorship that intensified its wave of harassment since 2018, the year of the civic rebellion.
Danny Ramírez-Ayérdiz, executive secretary of Calidhexplained to Article 66 that the professional titles that the regime is annulling belong to people who are in Nicaragua and “who were not necessarily linked to politics or to the defense of political prisoners.”
The defender stressed that anonymous notes were being received both on the organization’s social networks and by email, and that among those who had their professional practice title revoked are accountants, engineers and lawyers.
“This is very worrying because we believe that a new repressive pattern is taking shape and it seems that this time it is directed against professionals, in order to silence them and prevent them from raising their voices,” said the defender.
Fear in lawyers of being imprisoned
Another of the concerns that Ramírez-Ayérdiz mentioned is the fear of lawyers to practice their profession. “We have received approximately 10 notes in the last 10 weeks from lawyers who have requested that in the event of being detained, we request precautionary measures from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).”
It also indicated that several lawyers showed files that had been “assembled” by the Judiciary, where they are accused of a series of crimes, “that have nothing to do with it and that it shows that the purpose is to punish professionals.” .
Related news: Calidh denounces “the suppression of freedoms” in Nicaragua
Faced with these arbitrary acts, Calidh alerted society and public opinion regarding this new form of repression because, according to Danny Ramírez-Ayérdiz, “it seems that the professionals who are in Nicaragua are the new victims who are going to suffer from the outrages of the government of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo.
The lawyer also insisted that the “dangerousness” of this new repressive behavior by Ortega is that it puts the free exercise of the professions, which is a human right, in a “serious situation.”
Recently, this media outlet learned from anonymous sources that the repression against professionals has spread to the education sector where the Ministry of Education (Mined) has dismissed and canceled the license of teachers who do not conform to its dictatorial policy.
Five years after the political repression that Nicaragua is experiencing, the Ortega regime has been merciless against the entire Nicaraguan population, subjecting them to exile, jail, exile, mass dismissals and now outlawing professional titles.
