Q24N (EFE) The Nicaraguan government of Daniel Ortega ignored the social and political crisis that the country has been experiencing since April 2018 in a report presented ahead of the fourth cycle of the UN Universal Periodic Review (UPR) that will take place next November, the so-called Nicaragua Lucha Coalition denounced on Tuesday.
In a statement, the organizations that make up the Coalition, including the NGO Colectivo Nicaragua Nunca Más, based in Costa Rica, also regretted that this report was prepared without consulting civil society and Nicaraguan citizens and that it omits the main recommendations made by the mechanism in its third cycle in 2019.
“The national report presents information that is not credible, not verifiable, and contrary to all international reports made so far that denounce crimes against humanity in the country, which consolidates impunity,” said the Coalition.
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The omission of key civil society actors shows the low legitimacy of the increasingly fewer reports that Nicaragua presents in compliance with its international commitments, it added.
This Coalition, made up of human rights organizations, independent journalists’ associations, groups of victims, social movements and families affected by the crisis that Nicaragua has been experiencing since April 2018, also stated that “there is no access to reliable public information for the verification and monitoring of what is happening in the country.”
This problem has been exacerbated “by the persecution that translates into harassment and intimidation of human rights defenders, after the massive closure of organizations and media outlets that work in monitoring, accountability and transparency,” it said.
“This plunged Nicaragua into obscurity, turning the country into a zone silenced by state terrorism,” it added.
The government alleges “distortion of reality”
The Coalition explained that in 2019, in its third cycle, the UN human rights evaluation mechanism gave 259 recommendations to Nicaragua.
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“Of these, the authoritarian regime of Daniel Ortega only accepted 135 and rejected the rest, alleging ‘distortion of reality,’” it recalled.
In 2024, the national report ignores the main recommendations regarding the opening to international scrutiny, the release of political prisoners, the investigation and reparation of people killed in 2018, and the call for fair and independent elections, among others, mentioned that group of organizations.
In addition, it hides information about the serious situation in which indigenous and Afro-descendant peoples find themselves after the permanent attacks by settlers and mining concessions on their lands, caused by the lack of sanitation, added to the historical and structural discrimination in which they have lived for hundreds of years, it argued.
These organizations also noted that Nicaragua’s official report mentions the word “justice” three times in the entire 20-page report.
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“We recall that there are around 350 murders that occurred due to the violence of state forces that continue in total impunity, almost a million exiles, including political activists, human rights defenders, indigenous communities, journalists, and religious and lay people, among others,” they noted.
On the other hand, they contradicted the State of Nicaragua, which assured in its report that there is “peace” and “national stability” in the country.
Nicaragua has been experiencing a political and social crisis since April 2018, which worsened after the controversial elections of November 2021, in which Ortega was re-elected for a fifth term – the fourth consecutive – with his main contenders in prison and whom he later expelled from the country, depriving them of their nationality and political rights after accusing them of being “coup plotters” and “treason.”
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