The Inter-American Court of Human Rights demands the liberation of opposition leaders in Nicaragua

The international community's denunciations of Daniel Ortega's regime in Nicaragua continue unabated. Neither does the persecution of dissidents. The Central American country is going through a critical situation after the arrest of several journalists and opposition leaders who were planning to run for election on 7 November.

In this context, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) has demanded on Friday the release and protection of the five opponents imprisoned by the government of Daniel Ortega, including economist Juan Sebastián Chamorro, businessman José Adán Aguerri and political activists Félix Maradiaga and Violeta Granera.

The communiqué issued by the organisation maintains that the arrests respond to "an intention aimed at silencing them through reprisals and thereby sending a message of punishment to people who demonstrate or protest against state actions or who seek to oppose the current Nicaraguan government".

The IACHR, a judicial body linked to the Organisation of American States (OAS), considers that those imprisoned have "a leadership role and visibility against the measures promoted by the current Nicaraguan government since April 2018, and have been demonstrating in opposition to repressive state actions against the civilian population in the context of a human rights crisis".

A total of 19 people have been arrested since the crackdown on the political opposition began. The Ortega regime launched an operation amid fears of defeat in the elections, in what Human Rights Watch has described as "part of a broader strategy to repress dissent, instil fear, and restrict political participation".

"Everything we are doing is in accordance with the law, with the established codes to investigate, prosecute and try those who have committed crimes against the homeland, money laundering, as is done with drug traffickers. There is not a step back, there will not be a step back," Ortega said on Thursday during his first public statement since the outbreak of the campaign against the opposition.

The legal framework used jointly by the Attorney General's Office and the Nicaraguan police to justify the arrests includes the crimes of "treason" and "inciting interference and international sanctions".

The IACHR's message comes a day after Ortega's accusation. The president reappeared after more than a month's absence to accuse foreign consulates of meddling in internal affairs: "They were meeting, in the US Embassy, and demanding that they choose a candidate, and suddenly they took him to the Spanish Embassy", he declared.

"Here we are not judging politicians, we are not judging candidates. Here we are judging criminals who have attempted against the country, against the security of the country, against the lives of the citizens", the Sandinista leader said.

According to the president, those imprisoned were trying to organise "another 18 April", in reference to the popular uprising in 2018 that resulted in 300 deaths, 2,000 injured and hundreds of people arrested and prosecuted. Ortega called the movement a "coup d'état" and harshly repressed the protests.
 

In his statement, the Sandinista leader denied that presidential candidates were among those arrested: "Don't let them come with the story that they are candidates, if there are none registered. They have not arrived in time for the registrations to take place".

During the crackdown, Ortega has even arrested former members of the Sandinista government and ex-guerrillas who fought alongside him during the revolution that brought down dictator Anastasio Somoza.

As many as 59 countries issued a joint statement on Tuesday through the UN Human Rights Council. In the missive, the leaders urged Ortega to reverse the campaign of political persecution that has been waged in recent weeks. 

Carlos Fernando Chamorro, journalist and director of the dissident media Confidencial, cousin of one of those imprisoned and member of the family with the longest political history in Nicaragua, fled the country for the second time with his wife after his home was raided by the authorities. 

"Daniel Ortega twice closed the Confidencial newsroom. Now the police are raiding my house," Chamorro tweeted on Monday. "They will not silence journalism," he said.

Cristiana Chamorro, also a journalist and leading candidate in the elections, remains under house arrest since riot police raided her home. The authorities disqualified her from standing in the elections because of an alleged money laundering investigation through the NGO she runs. 

An organisation named after her mother, Violeta Barrios de Chamorro, who defeated the current president in the 1990 elections. The politician made history by being the first woman on the continent to be elected president and, moreover, by ending the domination of the Sandinista movement established since the 1979 revolution. 

"This is Daniel Ortega's revenge against my mother's legacy. They want to prevent Nicaraguans from voting and prevent a transition to democracy", declared Cristiana Chamorro before her imprisonment.

Following the outbreak of nationwide protests in 2018, the United States imposed a sanctions regime on numerous senior members of the Nicaraguan regime for the brutal crackdown on the rallies. 

The Biden Administration has maintained the sanctions through the Treasury Department. In early June, simultaneously with the campaign against the opposition, the US added four other senior government figures to the list, including the director of the Central Bank, Leonardo Ovidio Reyes Ramírez, and the president's daughter, Camila Ortega. 

Ortega's wife and vice-president, Rosario Murillo, attacked the United States for imposing "illegal, arbitrary, coercive and unilateral" embargoes. Murillo also called the imprisoned candidates "traitors". 

The ace up the Ortega regime's sleeve during periods of crisis is US interference. The president has used this resource ever since the CIA organised 'in pectore' a rebel militia known as the Contras to overthrow him in the 1980s.

Daniel Ortega is seeking to secure a fourth term in office in the midst of an unprecedented drop in his popularity, triggered by a devastating economic crisis and a pressing political crackdown. Since the triumph of the Sandinista revolution more than four decades ago, the current president has only been out of power for 16 years.

Throughout his political career, Ortega has gone from being one of the 20th century's Marxist revolutionaries to a tightly controlled Central American country after a stint in the opposition.   

On his return to the presidency in 2006, after losing three consecutive elections, Ortega left Marxism and his anti-Americanism behind to form a coalition with the Nicaraguan Catholic Church and reach out to the private sector. Between 2007 and 2017, Managua encouraged foreign investment and boosted economic growth above the level of its neighbours. 

However, the 2018 recession that followed the collapse of the pension system sent many citizens into poverty, and the COVID-19 crisis only aggravated the crisis spiral. 

Simultaneously, Ortega began to laminate institutions by censoring the media, manipulating the electoral council and using ration cards. A dynamic that still persists. 
 

Latin America Coordinator: José Antonio Sierra.