UN Report: Nicaragua Under Co-Presidential Dictatorship

A panel of United Nations human rights experts issued a report on Wednesday stating that Nicaragua's co-presidents have established a dictatorship. The group concluded there are reasonable grounds to believe crimes against humanity have been committed in the country since April 2018. Jan-Michael Simon, the chair of the Geneva-based group, told reporters that the regime aims for permanent dynastic rule. He noted that Daniel Ortega declared four months ago that Nicaragua will never hold elections again.

The expert panel has investigated alleged violations and abuses for over seven years. The report accuses husband-and-wife leaders Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo of eliminating opposition through arbitrary detentions, forced disappearances, and political persecution. The government has stripped the citizenship of opponents and taken their homes and possessions. Simon described the current political structure as a full dictatorship with a single clear goal.

Nicaragua’s government rejected the findings, calling the Human Rights Council manipulated, obsolete, and interfering. The country withdrew from that U.N. agency earlier. Officials accused neo-colonialist powers of using human rights accusations for political aggression. The state does not recognize the legitimacy of the current leadership, a position shared by the United States.

Ortega and Murillo have held power since mass protests in 2018 led to a bloody crackdown that killed hundreds of people. Ortega declared himself the winner of the 2021 election after jailing all candidates who might have defeated him. The international community widely viewed that vote as illegitimate. Since then, the government has imprisoned or exiled adversaries, religious leaders, and journalists.

Reed Brody, a member of the expert group, stated that the ruling Sandinista Party has total control over the police, courts, and prisons. Under the constitution adopted last year, the legislature and judiciary are no longer independent. Brody, a Hungarian American human rights lawyer, said there are no opposition parties, independent press, or critical nongovernmental organizations left inside the country. He described a transnational surveillance network that monitors and intimidates hundreds of thousands of Nicaraguans living abroad.

Since February 2023, at least 452 Nicaraguans considered political opponents have been declared traitors and stripped of citizenship. This action left them stateless. The group includes former Sandinista leaders, a former vice president, and all candidates from the 2021 presidential race. The government has also closed more than 5,000 organizations since 2018, many of which were religious groups. Thousands of people have been forced to flee the country as a result of these actions.

The experts urged other nations to bring a case against Nicaragua at the International Court of Justice. They cited violations of the convention on statelessness. Nicaragua is not a party to the International Criminal Court, which limits the direct jurisdictional options available to the tribunal.