Amnesty International foresees a terrible cycle for human rights in Nicaragua

Daniel Ortega won a fourth consecutive term as president of Nicaragua in a vote the U.S. and the European Parliament called a farce. 

In the run-up to the election, seven opposition candidates were jailed or placed under house arrest, and international monitors were barred from entering the country, Bloomberg reports.

Amnesty International issued a press release on Monday warning that the re-election of Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua will usher in a terrible new cycle for human rights.

“The prospect of Daniel Ortega’s fourth presidential term in Nicaragua is a frightening one for a nation where human rights violations have become increasingly commonplace under his government,” the press release reads.

“Once again, the people of Nicaragua find themselves in a situation where voicing criticism of the government puts them at grave risk,” said Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas director at Amnesty International. 

“In the last few years, we’ve witnessed first-hand the plot of a horror thriller developing in the country, where deadly police repression, wrongful imprisonment, ill-treatment, harassment and criminalization of human rights defenders and journalists are common practices,” Guevara-Rosas continued.

Sunday's elections were marked by arbitrary arrests of activists and journalists, as well as for acts of harassment, coercion and political violence.

La Prensa, Nicaragua’s most important newspaper, reported low voter turnout in addition to demonstrations against the Nicaraguan government in various cities around the world denouncing the serious human rights crisis.

Urnas Abiertas, a Nicaraguan citizens’ electoral observatory organization, reported more than 200 acts of political violence and acts of electoral coercion on election day. Similarly, The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights reported having received information on possible human rights abuses.  

In an open letter to the heads of state who will attend the 51st General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS), Guevara-Rosas warned that, if the organization wants to see the continent prosper, “it has to seek integral solutions to the historical and structural problems of the region, focusing its efforts on guaranteeing and respecting human rights.”

“The OAS will only achieve its vision of ‘a renewed America’ if states commit to putting human rights at the centre of any proposal to rebuild the region following the multiple crises exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic,” she added .

Guevara-Rosas asked Latin American leaders to address the human rights crisis in Nicaragua, but continued to urge them to help “put an end to the repressive tendencies we have seen in several countries and address serious structural shortcomings in the region regarding economic, social and cultural rights.”