By Latin America Reports | Created at 2026-09-25 10:27:07 | Updated at 2026-09-25 11:25:42
1 hour ago
The United Nations Group of Human Rights Experts on Nicaragua denounced a pattern of government repression, including disappearances and killings, over the past eight years in a new report titled “The anatomy of State cruelty”.
The 47-page dossier published on September 21 detailed 161 cases of enforced disappearance in the country since April 2018, when protests over social security reforms widened into a national challenge to Daniel Ortega’s government and were met with a violent crackdown that left more than 300 people dead.
Ortega and his wife and co-president, Rosario Murillo, recently suspended elections indefinitely in a move criticized as cementing their effective dictatorship over the Central American nation.
The latest UN report charts an evolution of the tactics used by the Nicaraguan government to silence dissent and target “an increasingly diverse range of victims”.
It also provides evidence in support of their belief in “coordinated action of multiple State institutions, under a chain of command reaching senior levels of Government” to repress opposition.
The dossier profiles eight individuals who were detained on political grounds and died “preventable deaths” in state custody as a result of inhumane treatment, paying particular attention to the case of 73-year-old Miskito Indigenous leader Brooklyn Rivera Bryan, whose death was announced by authorities on May 31 of this year.
The report divides government repression into four phases from the 2018 Operation Clean-Up to the post-2023 state measures to “consolidate absolute control over state institutions and the population.”
The first phase of government repression in 2018 saw hundreds of protesters who had participated in the widespread demonstrations of April to September in that year placed in arbitrary detention.
In June 2018, Operation Clean-Up was launched and went beyond dismantling roadblocks and barricades with an aim to end the protests; it marked the beginning of an uptick in arbitrary detentions which specifically targeted individuals who influenced the demonstrations.
Those targeted included Sandinistas, journalists, and activists as well as student and campesino leaders.
As the 2021 presidential elections approached, the second phase of repression was set in motion. The Government detained opposition candidates and political leaders and increasingly targeted the relatives of political opponents “to increase the personal costs of dissent”, including imposing restrictions on identity and educational documentation for the children of vocal critics.
In April 2026, The Counter Terrorism Group (CTG), a private, international intelligence and security firm, outlined the socioeconomic impacts of these punitive measures on a family unit and concluded that this form of government repression “will almost certainly continue.”
During a third phase of repression in 2022 intended to further dismantle the civic space, academics and members of the Catholic Church were increasingly persecuted.
Since 2023, the “pool of victims continued to expand and diversify” in a fourth phase which has been targeting Indigenous leaders such as Brooklyn Rivera, whose death in state custody has been treated as the result of inhumane treatment.
The fourth phase has also seen detentions become longer and violations of detainees’ dignity crueller. The CTG found that arbitrary detention led to further violations of the human rights of the victims, who were frequently detained incommunicado.
Documented abuses include prolonged solitary confinement, medical neglect, and torture.
The CTG concluded that the violations detailed in their report amount to crimes against humanity.
Featured image description: Rosario Murillo (left) and Daniel Ortega (middle) received Ecuador’s Foreign Minister, Ricardo Patiño (right) in 2013.
Featured image credit: Ricardo Patiño via Flickr
