The Nicaraguan Human Rights Collective Never Again presented a new report on the rights situation in Nicaragua entitled “Between repression and citizen resistance.” Through the document they denounce the “impunity, violence, repression and attacks” against opponents, artists, journalists and religious leaders.
“The government strategy is aimed at silencing all the voices that, in an organized or individual way, refute the official narrative, demand justice or represent an obstacle to the consolidation of its political and economic system. In this logic, since 2021 the government has intensified its actions first against journalists, members of civil society and other sectors, later against priests of the Catholic Church, “said the organization.
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They denounce that the strategies of the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo have focused on “the annihilation of the origin or root of any citizen action” as a totalitarian response and the elimination of “those whom the regime considers enemies.”
The Collective asserts that Ortega has dedicated himself to providing economic resources to the repressive organs that he uses in his favor, such as the National Police, an increase that is expressed in the increase in new police officers and in the rapid increase in resources from In 2018, the budget allocated to public order and security services in 2022 was 12.316 million córdobas, equivalent to 350 million dollars, which translates into 12.6% more than in 2021.
Human rights defenders also rejected the attack against leaders of the Catholic Church who have suffered repression for “their work accompanying and denouncing the abuses and violations of human rights perpetrated by the Nicaraguan State”, these acts have involved desecration of churches, direct attacks against the integrity of priests and the “dispossession” of their property.
The regime, through the Nicaraguan Institute of Telecommunications (Telcor), ordered the companies that provide cable service in Nicaragua to withdraw their services from the Catholic Channel, directed by the Episcopal Conference, which ceased to operate as of that date, leaving only the transmission through social networks. The government appropriated the Channel 51 frequency to place a new means of communication for government propaganda purposes. He recently directed the suspension of the Catholic signal TV Merced.
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The Collective also rejects the persecution that the regime has exercised against opponents and dissenting voices to its administration. They emphasize that Ortega has installed impunity through the “spraying of the independence of the institutions that include an obstacle in the justice of Nicaragua.”
In April 2018, thousands of Nicaraguans took to the streets to protest questionable social security reforms, which later became a demand for Ortega to resign because he responded with force.
The protests, described by the dictatorship as an attempted coup, left at least 355 dead, according to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), although local organizations raise the figure to 684 and the Government recognizes only 200.
