The Nicaraguan State continues to commit serious human rights violations, failing to comply with the recommendations of Resolution A/HRC/43/L.35, “Promotion and protection of human rights in Nicaragua,” which renews and strengthens the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights’ mandate to monitor the situation of human rights in the country.

A recent report by the Monitoreo Azul y Blanco (Blue and White Monitoring Group) has documented 10,360 aggressions by the authorities in the last two years. A report by the Observatorio de Agresiones a la Prensa Independiente de Nicaragua (Nicaraguan Observatory of Aggressions against the Independent Press) documents 351 attacks on the independent press between March 1st and July 15th of 2020. In the past two weeks, the journalists Gerall Chávez and Aníbal Toruño also suffered attacks: Mr. Chávez received death threats in a letter mailed to his family, while Radio Darío, directed by Mr. Toruño, has been under siege by police and para-police groups.

Political prisoners

From March through July of 2020, Nicaraguan judges sentenced at least 22 people detained for political reasons to sentences ranging from 1 to 30 years in prison, according to the prisoners’ family members and defense lawyers. These political prisoners, including students, opposition figures, and activists, were charged with common crimes such as drug trafficking, arms trafficking, obstruction of police, or theft as a pretext to prosecute them.

In mid-July, officials ordered the release of approximately 1,600 prisoners. Among these were 4 political prisoners: Kevin Castillo, Geovanny Guido, Oscar Centeno Altamirano and Francisco Hernández (Mr. Hernández had already completed his sentence). The Alianza Cívica por la Justicia y la Democracia (Civic Alliance for Justice and Democracy) has documented that at least 95 people detained for political motives remained in prison after the release.

Refusal of reparations

To date, the Government of Nicaragua has not developed a comprehensive, inclusive, and victim-centered plan for transparency and reparations related to the deadly violence beginning in April 2018, as the High Commissioner for Human Rights reported in her most recent update on Nicaragua in early July.

International Cooperation

The Government has also failed to renew its cooperation with international human rights bodies and mechanisms. Health authorities continue to deny the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) vital data about the COVID-19 pandemic. PAHO’s requests to send an expert mission to the country have also gone unanswered. PAHO has stated that this lack of cooperation has forced it to resort to “non-official sources” to evaluate the spread of COVID-19 in Nicaragua.
 

Four months after Nicaragua’s first COVID-19 case, official data reports that 3,672 cases and 116 deaths have been confirmed to date. However, the Observatorio Ciudadano COVID-19 (Citizens’ Covid-19 Observatory) reported 8,755 suspected cases and at least 2,487 suspicious deaths.

The Ministry of Health, which has never reported how many COVID-19 tests have been carried out by the public health system, announced that people who need to be tested in order to enter or leave the country will be charged US$150.00. At Nicaragua’s southern border, authorities have refused entry to approximately 500 Nicaraguans seeking to return from Panama and Costa Rica because they do not have the resources to pay for tests.
 

The Consejo Supremo Electoral (Supreme Electoral Council) extended the registration deadline for new political parties until June 7, 2021, five months before scheduled national elections. However, the National Assembly has not taken up any electoral reform efforts, despite the insistence of the opposition and the international community that reforms be implemented to guarantee free, fair, and transparent elections.
 

In the Caribbean coastal region, the critical situation facing Afro-descendant and indigenous communities has remained unchanged under the COVID-19 pandemic. Violations of their territorial rights, including violent land invasions, have continued, such as the killing of one indigenous person and the severe wounding of another by outsiders who attacked the Ahsawas community in the Mayangna Sauni Bu indigenous reserve. Authorities have not taken concrete steps to prevent the novel coronavirus from infecting these communities, nor have they published official data on the COVID-19 situation in the regions.