The absolute control of the powers of the State exercised by Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo has led to the demolition of the Nicaraguan democratic system, say experts and this is reflected in reports from local and international organizations.
The report “Concentration of Power and Weakening of the Rule of Law in Nicaragua» of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) explains that the process of concentration of power in the Executive branch intensified in 2007 when Daniel Ortega assumed his second term, and was consolidated after the human rights crisis that began in April of 2018.
The increase in corruption and nepotism in the dictatorship has generated accusations of illicit enrichment by the Ortega-Murillo family. The administration of the oil aid that Venezuela delivered allowed the dictatorial couple to finance and create companies.
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Before the 2018 crisis, the country ranked 151 out of 180 countries in Transparency International’s corruption perception index, but it sank to 167th place in 2022, being together with Venezuela, the most corrupt governments in Latin America.
Perversion of the state system
The expert in anti-corruption issues, Martha Patria Molina, explained to Article 66 that Ortega has dedicated himself to perverting the entire state system to illicitly enrich his family and all the public servants that surround him.
“Little by little, associated with all the powers of the State, he created laws tailored to him to perpetuate himself in power and thus manage to turn his mandate into a dynastic dictatorship,” he said.
Molina points out that to achieve his objective, Ortega turned institutions such as the Comptroller General of the Republic (CGR) into accomplices, which is in charge of overseeing and supervising the public treasury of Nicaraguans.
“(The CGR) today is an institution that does not see, does not listen and does not speak about the embezzlements” that are carried out under the Ortega-Murillo administration both in public institutions and in municipalities,” he said.
“The zero access to public information, which is projected by that institution, is decadent and dangerous because there is no one to control their work and whoever aspires to obtain information, they immediately send a “courtesy” visit from the Sandinista Police,” he added. .
The most corrupt in CA and the second in LA
Transparency International of Spain ranks Nicaragua in the 167th position worldwide in terms of the 2022 corruption index. The Central American country is the second worst evaluated in Latin America, surpassed only by its ally Venezuela, which ranks 177. At the Central American level is in the first place.
Molina explains that the Transparency International indices show the decline that the country is experiencing in matters of corruption. “We are cataloged as one of the three most corrupt countries in the region and as time goes on this worsens and the consequences that await us in the medium and long term are disastrous,” she warns.
According to the indicator of the most corrupt countries, Nicaragua is located in 167th place, one position less than the ranking corresponding to 2021, and with only 19 points out of a possible 100. But, they do not rule out that this deterioration is alarming since 2012 when the country began to be positioned on the red list.
The study “Situation of municipal transparency in Nicaragua” prepared by the independent observatory Urnas Abiertas, explains that corruption in the country is at the highest historical levels given the scarce and insufficient information available on the finances of the central and municipal government.
They affirm that in Nicaragua there are no “guarantees for citizen and state control” that regulate corruption and transparency in the governance system, agreements signed in the Lima Compromise by the countries of the American continent.
Transparency International researchers agree with Urnas Abiertas that Ortega has violated most of the agreements signed in the Lima Compromise, mainly “democratic governance, transparency and financing of politics, freedom of expression, and judicial autonomy and independence.” , thus positioning Nicaragua as one of the most corrupt governments on the continent.
