Nicaragua
Nicaragua exhibits low performance across all categories of the Global State of Democracy framework. Over the past five years, Nicaragua has declined further in numerous factors of Representation, Rights, Rule of Law and Participation, notably, in Credible Elections, Free Political Parties, Elected Government, Civil Liberties and its related subfactors, and Judicial Independence. Nicaragua is classified as a lower middle income country, with an economy significantly dependent on the services sector, manufacturing and agriculture. The country ranks as the poorest country in Central America.
Democratic decline in Nicaragua dates to the 2000 ‘impunity pact’ between President Alemán (from the Partido Liberal Constitucionalista, PLC) and Daniel Ortega (from the Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional, FSLN), which allowed both parties to dominate public offices, undermining checks and balances. Ortega increasingly consolidated his regime with initial support from the army, the business sector, and international and transnational actors, including financial support from Venezuela, Russia and China. Since then, institutions have been co-opted and used to silence opposition members, civil society and journalists and even restrict cultural expression. Electoral reforms facilitated the FSLN’s hegemonic control of government institutions. The judiciary has been weaponized to target opposition and critics, stripping over 300 members of the opposition of their citizenship. In 2022, “La Prensa,” the oldest newspaper in the country, was forced to close its offices. The regime has also targeted the Catholic Church, which it has accused of backing the 2018 protests and of promoting political dissent, as illustrated by the arrest of several priests and the closure of Catholic television and radio channels in 2022. The starkness of human rights violations in Nicaragua led a UN expert group to find that they constitute crimes against humanity, particularly that of persecution on political grounds.
Nicaragua’s population is mostly Mestizo, with Black, Indigenous and White minorities. The Ortega regime’s actions have also had consequences for the government’s relations with Indigenous peoples and other minorities. Nicaragua is home to seven different Indigenous peoples. However, these communities constantly face several challenges, from discrimination to the invasion of their lands and illegal exploitation of natural resources by mining, cattle and logging companies. Afro-descendants have also been affected by land grabbing and invasion, with the IACHR denouncing attacks and calling for justice and the respect of communal properties. The government has failed to protect these communities, and in some instances has promoted the purchase of these lands and access by private companies. The government has also targeted LGBTQIA+ advocates.
Women currently hold over half of the seats in Congress. While the adoption of Law 1070 in 2021 led to some progress in strengthening women’s political equality by integrating gender parity in several public organs, it also severely restricted electoral competition. Furthermore, women’s access to health and education is impacted by the country’s absolute prohibition of abortion.
Looking ahead, it will be important to watch Nicaragua’s performance in Representation, particularly with regard to Credible Elections, given the FSLN’s domination in politics and the repression of opposition. Furthermore, it will be critical to observe developments in Rights, and the work that international and local human rights organizations – such as the OHCHR, IACHR and the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (CENIDH) – carry out to monitor the continued and grave human rights violations. Freedom of Expression and Freedom of the Press are other aspects to watch, given initiatives in the Legislature to implement further restrictions, particularly in online content.
Last Updated: September 2024
https://www.idea.int/democracytracker/
August 2024
Government closes approximately 1,500 NGOs
Through ministerial decrees and provisions, the government has ordered the closure of about 1,500 non-governmental organizations (NGO). Most of the disbanded organizations are religious, but also include educational, medical, social and Indigenous institutions. The government justified the dissolution by arguing the organizations had incurred in alleged omissions in financial disclosure obligations. The property and other assets of the NGOs are to be confiscated by the government. The government also announced that remaining civil society organizations that wish to continue operating will have to do so under a new operational scheme involving “alliances” with state entities. This scheme entails that all programs and projects will have to be approved by the state entities involved, taking away any ability for civil society to operate independently. Since 2018, over 5,200 organizations or roughly 75 per cent of NGOs have been closed. The latest dissolution of NGOs has affected more organizations than any of the previous measures taken against civil society.
Sources: BBC, The New York Times, El Pais, Human Rights Watch
March 2024
Government restricts political expression in concerts
Through a ministerial decree, the Ortega Government has issued new restrictions to musical and artistic performances, which effectively bans political expression in concerts. The decree, Ministerial Agreement 05-2004, impedes both national and foreign performers from expressing or promoting ideas related to politics. It establishes the obligation of performers and producers to enlist in a registry and grants the Ministry of the Interior the ability to authorize or deny any production. Both the artistic community and Nicaraguan human rights defenders have decried the measure, and fear authorizations may be denied arbitrarily.
January 2024
Bishop Alvarez and others released and expelled from Nicaragua
Bishop Rolando Alvarez, a political prisoner, was expelled from Nicaragua along with Bishop Isidoro Mora and 17 other priests and seminarians who had been imprisoned in December. Bishop Alvarez was convicted a year ago for treason, dissemination of fake news and undermining national integrity, and sentenced to 26 years imprisonment. He had refused to leave Nicaragua a year ago along with over two hundred political prisoners who were released, expelled to the United States and stripped of their nationality by the judiciary. Last year, Congress also passed a reform by which those declared traitors would be stripped of their nationalities.
After the release, the Ortega government issued a statement revealing the coordination and agreement with the Holy See, and Vatican News subsequently confirmed the arrival of the members of the Catholic Church to Vatican City.
Sources: Vatican News, Associated Press, El Pais , International IDEA
December 2023
Government expels the ICRC from Nicaragua
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) announced it was ending its humanitarian work in Nicaragua, at the request of the government. The government did not provide any reasoning regarding the expulsion publicly. The international organization’s mandate in the country was focused on “preventing and addressing the humanitarian consequences of deprivation of liberty”, providing training on international humanitarian law and human rights, and on providing support to the Nicaraguan Red Cross. The latter was dissolved in May by the Legislature and had its assets confiscated. The ICRC’s staff carried out visits to persons deprived of their liberty, including political prisoners, and also assisted in negotiations between government and opposition regarding the conditions and release of some of these political prisoners.
Sources: International Committee of the Red Cross, Infobae, El Pais, International IDEA
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Global ranking per category of democratic performance in 2023
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Factors of Democratic Performance Over Time
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