This Central American country, led since 2007 by Daniel Ortega, one of the instigators of the Sandinista Front which ended the Somoza dictatorship in 1979, is gradually plunging into ...

In Nicaragua, the witch hunt is in full swing

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega speaking on television, June 23, 2021. AP - Miguel Andres

Text by: Romain Lemaresquier Follow

5 mins

This Central American country, led since 2007 by Daniel Ortega, one of the instigators of the Sandinista Front which ended the Somoza dictatorship in 1979, has been gradually plunging into a dictatorial regime in recent months, in the run-up to the presidential election to be held on November 7.

Persecutions, intimidation, arrests and placement under house arrest have increased in recent weeks.

And this Wednesday, July 28, Parliament attacked 24 NGOs which no longer have the right to work in Nicaragua and whose property has been seized by the State.

Why such a drift?

Publicity

The voices of criticism have multiplied with the approach of the elections and the president and the vice-president, Rosario Murillo, who is none other than the wife of Daniel Ortega and who exerts a considerable influence on the policy pursued by her husband, are in the process of locking the country and power before the election is held.

A drift that does not date from yesterday

It all started in 2018, following colossal demonstrations and very harshly repressed by the authorities, which plunged the country into an endless political crisis.

Demonstrations that began in April and continued until the end of 2018 with, officially, a toll of three hundred and twenty-five people killed, a figure that has never been able to be verified.

A protest movement that began following a reform of social security.

Hundreds, if not thousands, of people have been arrested and sentenced, some of them to very heavy sentences.

It is from this moment that the power in place to launch a real witch hunt.

NGOs, the authorities' primary targets

Already in 2018 a dozen non-governmental organizations had their legal status withdrawn by President Daniel Ortega.

NGOs accused of terrorism, of fomenting a coup, of being in the pay of other countries.

These were organizations that worked in the medical field, communication, public policy or for the protection of democracy.

This Wednesday, the Nicaraguan Parliament, which is dominated by elected representatives of the Sandinista National Liberation Front, the FSLN, the party of Daniel Ortega (with seventy-one seats out of a total of ninety-two), decided to withdraw the legal status to twenty-four other NGOs.

Most of them in the health field.

Civil society organizations that were working very actively, particularly in the fight against the pandemic.

To justify this decision Wilfredo Navarro, deputy of the FSLN, explains that for more than ten years, several of these organizations "

have slept the sleep of the just without fulfilling the

legal

requirements

" to be able to continue to operate.

On the contrary, these NGOs denounce reprisals for their criticism of the management of the coronavirus epidemic, and now they fear a very strong deterioration in terms of health.

A deterioration not only linked to COVID, because these NGOs also work on renal failure, diabetes, pneumology or menopause, anesthesia, infectious diseases or the treatment of pain.

In short: the consequences for Nicaraguans could be very significant.

The opposition targeted before the presidential election

This decision to withdraw their legal status from these NGOs follows a series of arrests in opposition circles. No less than twenty-nine opponents have thus been arrested or placed under house arrest in recent months.

Not a week goes by without learning of a new detention. The latest is that of political scientist José Peraza who, according to a police statement, "

is under investigation for having committed acts undermining the independence and sovereignty of the country

". At least seven future presidential candidates are subject to such measures. Arrests which have all been denounced by the international community. The United States and the European Union have also adopted sanctions against officials and relatives of the presidential couple, but this does not seem to have any effect.

And if they are arrested recently it is not the effect of chance, because the official filing of candidatures for the presidential election takes place between July 28 and August 2, and in Nicaragua, a person who makes being investigated or detained simply does not have the right to run in any election.

In Nicaragua, the witch hunt is in full swing

In Nicaragua, the witch hunt is in full swing

A drift that does not date from yesterday

NGOs, the authorities' primary targets

The opposition targeted before the presidential election

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