UN Experts: Ortega and Murillo Built a Dictatorship in Nicaragua

A United Nations expert panel reported Wednesday that Nicaraguan co-presidents Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo may have committed crimes against humanity in a sustained campaign to eliminate political opposition. The group, appointed by the Geneva-based Human Rights Council, said it has found reasonable grounds to believe such crimes were committed.

Jan-Michael Simon, who chairs the panel, told reporters in New York that Ortega and Murillo have built a system aimed at eliminating opponents through arbitrary detention, forced disappearance, political persecution and the removal of citizenship. "What we are looking at is a full dictatorship, and that dictatorship has one clear goal: permanent dynastic rule," Simon said. The panel has been investigating the situation since April 2018.

Nicaragua, which has withdrawn from the Human Rights Council, rejected the findings. The government called the council "manManipulated, obsolete and interfering" and accused "neo-colonialist powers" of using human rights for political aggression. Nicaragua's government denies committing human rights violations.

The experts documented specific actions since February 2023: at least 452 Nicaraguans considered political opponents have been declared "traitors" and stripped of citizenship, leaving them stateless. Those affected include former Sandinista leaders, a former vice president and all presidential candidates from the 2021 election. The panel also reported a transnational surveillance network that monitors, intimidates and attacks hundreds of thousands of Nicaraguans abroad.

Reed Brody, a member of the panel and a Hungarian American human rights lawyer, said the ruling Sandinista Party has "total control" over police, courts and prisons. Under the constitution adopted last year, the legislature and judiciary are controlled by the co-presidents, Brody said. "There are no opposition parties left, no independent press inside the country," no critical nongovernmental organizations, he said.

Since mass protests in 2018 and the government crackdown that followed, hundreds of people have been killed. The government has imprisoned or exiled adversaries, religious leaders and journalists, and has shuttered more than 5,000 organizations since 2018, largely religious groups.

The panel urged countries to bring a case against Nicaragua to the International Court of Justice for violating the convention on statelessness. Nicaragua is not a party to the International Criminal Court.