NEW YORK - A reader got in touch last week to highlight the dire situation in Nicaragua – a human rights disaster that for years has received too little international attention.
The human rights record of the government of Daniel Ortega is appalling. Since 2018, when authorities brutally cracked down on protesters, the government has arbitrarily detained and prosecuted a range of people perceived as government critics, including journalists and political opponents. Authorities have dismantled civil society, and now they’re even going after members of the Roman Catholic Church , shuttering their radio stations and arresting a bishop and his aides.
Our reader wanted to draw attention to the more than 200 political prisoners in Nicaragua. Brutal means of ill-treatment in detention are well documented, but even just the conditions many are kept in – being held incommunicado, prolonged solitary confinement, insufficient food, no access to medical care – are so appalling that they could in some cases constitute torture in and of themselves. More than 110,000 Nicaraguans have been forced to flee.
Our reader mentioned in particular the cases of Juan Sebastián Chamorro and Félix Maradiaga, two of the seven presidential candidates detained in the context of 2021’s fraudulent elections. In March, they were sentenced to 13 years in prison for, “conspiracy to undermine national integrity.” Now, I’m not a lawyer, but I’m pretty sure that means: “running for office against Ortega.”
One hopeful sign is that international attention seems to be increasing. On March 31, the UN Human Rights Council established a new monitoring body to investigate the country’s many violations.
On August 21, Pope Francis, for the first time, expressed concern about the situation in Nicaragua. And last week, the government of President Gustavo Petro in Colombia disclosed they had been pressing privately for the release of political prisoners.
But the efforts haven’t been sufficient. More needs to be done to keep the Ortega government in check.
