LGBTIQ community is more vulnerable after the start of the crisis in Nicaragua, according to activists

LGBTIQ community is more vulnerable after the start of the crisis in Nicaragua, according to activists

Washington, DC. November 30th, 2018. The LGBTIQ community has been traditionally discriminated against, however, since the human rights crisis started in Nicaragua last April, the violations of their human rights have worsened. According to activists who spoke with the International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality), this community has suffered from discrimination and harassment in a more targeted and systematic way in recent months.

“Being gay or lesbian in Nicaragua, especially in this context where violence is more socially justified, puts us in a more vulnerable condition,” says Alex, a 25-year-old gay man who lives in a small city in northern Nicaragua. According to the young activist, they’re vulnerable “not only because we don’t agree with a totalitarian political system, but because we are considered sexual deviants.”

Alex adds that “in the street, they will not only attack you because you’re ‘Blue and White’ but they will also call you a ‘Blue and White’ faggot or a ‘Blue and White’ lesbo”.

He is one of thousands of citizens who joined the peaceful protests that at first demanded the annulment of reforms to the Nicaraguan Social Security Institute. The movement took the streets demanding justice and respect for human rights after the brutal governmental repression that has left as of now at least 325 dead, more than 2,000 people injured, and hundreds of persons who are political prisoners. People call them “Blue and White” because they use the Nicaraguan flag as a symbol of protest.

“Since I started participating in demonstrations, I’ve been being persecuted and attacked,” Alex shares, adding that groups of government-aligned men continually pass by his house on motorcycles and shouting phrases like “coup-plotter” or “faggot, we’re going to kill you.” “They put a lot of emphasis on my identity and my sexual and life choices”.

Francisca, a lesbian woman who prefers to omit her real name, explains that before the crisis, the LGBTIQ community had made significant progress regarding respect and equality. “But in these times of crisis, many things in which we had advanced, have receded,” she remarks.

Just like Alex, Francisca participated in the civic demonstrations. Soon after, she began to receive threats and was victim of an intense intimidation campaign through social networks.

“They threatened me directly, they told me things like ‘this is the dyke,’ or ‘look, we know where you live, get ready,’ or ‘we’re going to show you what a man is, maybe that’s how you will get well.’ They even sent lists on WhatsApp and Facebook saying I was pro-abortion and a crazy feminist.”

This situation, plus a telephone call in which she was warned that her capture was imminent, forced Francisca to flee her home. “I’ve been away from my house for almost five months, missing my family, missing everything I left there. I had to leave only with a backpack,” she stated.

Francisca now lives in a different city with her girlfriend. But the fear of being imprisoned is constant. Alex’s situation is similar. According to the activist, those who decided to stay in Nicaragua must live “practically in hiding.”

“I’ve been away from my house for almost five months, missing my family, missing everything I left there. I had to leave only with a backpack”. A 33-year-old lesbian woman.

On October 13th, the Nicaraguan Police prohibited any type of mobilization that was not authorized by that institution. One day later, a group of 38 citizens and activists were arrested by police officers for carrying out a sit-in without having requested such permits.

“We are in greater danger since there are no longer mobilizations. The State and its repressive machine have a greater ability to find you, look for you, and do anything with your life. Repression, arrests, and extrajudicial executions, including those for LGBT defenders, are more focused now,” explains Alex.

More aggressions

Transgender women have also suffered different types of aggression. “There are cases of transgender women who have been kidnapped by the police or paramilitary forces, who have been savagely assaulted, beaten, and left lying in the streets”. The aggressors threaten that the attacks are a demonstration of what will continue to happen to the ‘Blue and White’ people, says Dámaso Vargas, a 25-year-old transgender woman and activist from Managua.

One of the forms of protest that Dámaso exercised was abandoning the public education system. She was a senior high school student this year. “I disagree with everything that’s happening and for me, leaving school is also a way of saying that I will not continue to validate a State that is not really doing the work it should be doing,” she affirms.

Additionally, there are four trans women who are currently imprisoned in the men’s penitentiary system of La Modelo for having participated in the civic demonstrations, according to the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (CENIDH, for its initials in Spanish).

A case that has been broadly reported by national media is that of Victoria Obando, a 27-year-old trans woman and former student at the National Autonomous University of Nicaragua (UNAN-Managua), who barricaded herself in her university as a way of protest. She was arrested in late August and the authorities now accuse her of several crimes, including terrorism, murder, fire, kidnapping, armed robbery, and carrying out death threats.

“Victoria says they strip her in front of the rest of the inmates, policemen boo her and tell her things like ‘people who stay here are virile man, machos,’ knowing that we don’t want to feel that way and we don’t feel that way,” explains Dámaso, who says she feels powerless and sad in the face of such a situation.

Sexual violations have also become a form of repression. CENIDH has registered 12 cases of men and women who were victims of sexual violence during illegal detentions or kidnappings committed by parapolice men and police officers.

“Those are very terrible testimonies that currently can’t be brought to justice in this context precisely because there are no institutions that can investigate the authorities,” explains Wendy Flores, a lawyer at CENIDH, during the conversation “Women resisting repression” which was organized by DeHumo last week.

In the same conversation, Tania Sánchez denounced that a man tried to abuse her sister, Kisha López, a trans woman imprisoned in La Modelo. “Kisha defended herself and hit him with a broom in the ribs, because she says that regardless of what she is, they have to respect her,” Sanchez said.

Indigenous people

For indigenous communities, belonging to the LGBTIQ population results in a double factor of vulnerability, according to a gay Miskitu man who prefers to identify himself as Arturo.

Since 2013, 23 people from the LGBTIQ community have been murdered in the Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua.

“Many people of different sexual orientation who are in the universities have been persecuted, have been watched over, because they (government-aligned people) fear that this issue that is happening in the western part of the country can start here also among young people,” says Arturo, a 35-year-old attorney.

According to the activist and lawyer, in the Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua “the crisis is not only 7 months long.” He says that the situation of persecution “has remained throughout time due to the same exclusion and discrimination that the State powers have imposed on the indigenous communities.” And he provided the example that since 2013, 23 people from the LGBTIQ community have been murdered. “Persecution of this community is in the background of the crisis,” he reveals.

Arturo himself affirms he has been attacked and threatened on social networks, both for his sexual orientation and for “being a defender of human rights, specifically for promoting the collective rights of indigenous people.”

Their work will continue

Although human rights violations in the current context of crisis in Nicaragua are not exclusive to the LGBTIQ community, the activists who spoke with Race and Equality insisted on the need to make visible their problems and challenges.

As Alex mentioned, “the actions that we take every day, the meetings, the mobilization strategies, the contents spread on social media, the demands of our political prisoners, mainly those who belong to the LGBTIQ community, that is our motivation.”

Human rights defender was stripped of her Nicaraguan nationality and expelled arbitrarily by the authorities

Washington, D.C., November 27th 2018. Ana Quirós Víquez, Director of the Center for Health Information and Advisory Services (CISAS), a Nicaraguan citizen with dual nationality, was illegally expelled from Nicaragua on Monday, November 26th, after immigration authorities annulled the Nicaraguan nationality she had acquired 21 years ago.

The decision of the authorities is clearly arbitrary. Quirós, who was attending an appointment at the General Directorate of Migration and Foreign Affairs (DGME, for its initials in Spanish), was informed by a migration officer that a legal resolution annulling her Nicaraguan nationality had been issued. In addition, the authorities told her she was forbidden from returning to Nicaragua for the next five years. She was not allowed to exercise her right to defense or to appeal the decision, even though these rights are guaranteed under Nicaraguan law.

During an interview given by Quirós to the journalist Carlos Salinas from Confidencial, the activist stated that the authorities told her that the reason for the annulment of her nationality was because she had two nationalities (from Nicaragua and Costa Rica), and only citizens from Central American countries can have both Nicaraguan and Costa Rican nationality. When she asked the authorities if Costa Rica was not a Central American country, the officers remained silent.

Quirós, who is also part of the National Feminist Articulation and a member of the Blue and White National Unity (UNAB, for its initials in Spanish), was born in Costa Rica but has been living in Nicaragua for more than 40 years and was nationalized as a Nicaraguan citizen in 1997.

The activist, a 62-year-old woman, went to the DGME at 10 a.m. last Monday, to respond to a citation that she received two days before. Although the document did not explain what the reason for the citation was, she was warned that if she didn’t show up she would face legal consequences.

“The appointment in Migration was almost nothing. They told me that my nationality was canceled. I asked what the next step was and what my status was. They did not answer me. It was not until later in the afternoon that they read me the resolution to expel me from the country,” Quirós told reporters a day later from the capital city of Costa Rica.

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

A group of feminists, human rights defenders, and journalists remained for hours outside of the DGME after Quirós entered the building, but the authorities refused to give them any information about Ms. Quirós. The activist, however, had been transferred by noon to the Directorate of Judicial Assistance, better known as El Chipote.

“They put me in a temporary holding cell that is actually just a seat with bars,” said Quirós, who was fingerprinted and photographed during the detention. “They didn’t interrogate me, I wasn’t physically abused. But I did receive multiple verbal assaults, threats and constant intimidation,” she told journalists a day after she was expelled from Nicaragua.

At 6 pm on Monday, the General Consul of Costa Rica in Nicaragua, Oscar Camacho, stated on social media that the Costa Rican authorities had been informed that the Nicaraguan authorities were going to expel Quirós from Nicaragua

“They took me handcuffed in a bus, surrounded by armed police and accompanied by people from Migration in other vehicles to the southern border at Peñas Blancas. They insisted on not removing my handcuffs until we arrived, even once I got down from the bus I was still handcuffed. They took my shirt and my Nicaraguan hat. The entire way they were harassing me and verbally attacking me,” Quirós denounced.

Directed persecution

Vilma Núñez, President of the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (CENIDH, for its initials in Spanish), said that the actions against Quirós are part of “a directed persecution against all the people who support the claims of the people of Nicaraguan”.

Quirós has been one of the most active voices in the defense of human rights of Nicaraguans who demand democracy, justice and freedom in the context of the current human rights crisis that the country is going through.

In fact, the defender was one of the first victims of the repression that broke out in April. On the 18th of that month, during the first protest that took place in Managua, a mob of Government’s supporters hit her with a tube in her head, arms and the rest of her body. The picture in which she appeared covered in blood was distributed quickly through social media.

In the months that followed, Quirós said she was victim of “multiple threats in a systematic manner,” stating that “they came to visit our neighbors to ask where I was, and whenever I went to the airport they retained me in the migration offices, interrogating me,” she said from San José.

For the moment, the activist assured that she will continue to denounce from Costa Rica the human rights violations that occur in Nicaragua. In addition, she raised the possibility of suing the Nicaraguan State for its arbitrary expulsion from the country.

More women intimidated

On Monday, three Nicaraguan-based activists working with the Collective of Women from Matagalpa were also summoned by the DGME: the Swiss citizen Beatriz Huber and the Spanish sisters Ana and María Jesús Ara. The three of them were asked to sign a document in which they pledged to not participate in any more political activities if they wanted to remain in the country, according to the feminist defenders who accompanied them.

Juanita Jiménez, of the Autonomous Women’s Movement (MAM) of Nicaragua, warned that the process against Quirós and the three other activists from Matagalpa is framed “in that discourse of visceral hatred and disqualification that the Government is carrying out against the Nicaraguan feminism movement.”

Jiménez recalled that the last week, authorities denied authorization to feminist groups and citizens from the UNAB to march on November 25th, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.

The International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights strongly rejects Nicaragua’s expulsion of the human rights defender Ana Quirós. This is another act of repression that comes from the Nicaraguan dictatorship that has plagued the country for more than seven months and that has been systematically demonstrated through assassinations, violations of the freedom of expression and social protest, intimidation of the media and independent journalists, excessive use of force by parapolice groups and police officers, irregular judicial processes and an atmosphere of collective fear that makes the freedom of the Nicaraguan people impossible. We ask the international community to continue to denounce the situation in Nicaragua and to keep paying attention to the serious humanitarian crisis that the country is going through.

Public Announcement: Ongoing Crisis in Nicaragua

Washington, DC, November 23, 2018 – The International Institute of Race, Equality, and Human Rights strongly condemns and rejects the resolution issued today, November 23, 2018, by the Nicaraguan Police regarding the march convened to commemorate the International Day on the Elimination of Violence against Women by the Unidad Nacional Azul y Blanco [White and Blue National Unity] (UNAB), which had been announced was to be held on Sunday, November 25 in the city of Managua in protest over the violation of Nicaraguans’ fundamental rights for the last seven months by the Ortega-Murillo regime.

In the resolution, communicated by the Chief of the Directorate of Public Security of the National Police of Nicaragua, General Commissioner Luis Fernando Barrantes refuses to authorize it, while the National Police, in a clear abuse of power, classifies said initiative as a “vandalistic act” and “terrorist” with “coup aims” that envisages “affecting Nicaraguan families and the tranquility of the country.”  In addition, it states in a threatening tone “. . . that the National Police does not authorize nor will authorize public mobilizations by persons, organizations, or movements that participated in and are being investigated for their actions in the failed attempt at a  . . .”

As an institution that works in favor of the respect, guarantee, and protection of human rights, we repudiate said police communiqué, as it does not acknowledge, decontextualizes, and once again violates the right of Nicaraguans to protest peacefully to denounce the innumerable acts of harassment and repression committed by Nicaraguan authorities since April, in an attempt to foster a false sense of normalcy in the country when acts of harassment and intimidation in all public spaces continue being committed by the police, clearly endangering any possibility for regaining Nicaraguans’ tranquility, for whom this repression has given no respite.

Likewise, we denounce the indifference of the Nicaraguan State, which refuses to accept the existence of the victims of this humanitarian crisis from among the self-convened population, who today comprise more than 500 protestors, students, and activists who have been detained under conditions that endanger their lives, [physical] integrity, and due process, as well as the approximately 325 assassinations that continue to be shrouded in impunity and the acts of intimidation that are daily visited upon women, those who have been tried for the April incidents, journalists, human rights defenders, LGBTQI persons, and the community in general.

Race & Equality also vehemently condemns the acts of intimidation, assault, and harassment committed by the National Police in recent hours in different places in the city of Managua and other departments, which demonstrates that nothing is normal in Nicaragua.  The arbitrary nature with which the police continue to act provokes an environment of fear and insecurity among the populace.  We therefore demand the prompt release of the two Radio Darío collaborators, Omar López and Eduardo Patricio Amaya, who were kidnapped this morning.  Amaya was granted protective measures by the IACHR, MC 693-18.  We hold the State of Nicaragua responsible for any situation that violates [the] lives, [physical] integrity, and human rights of both Radio Darío employees.

We urgently call on the international community to take a stance in response to these acts that gravely violate the fundamental rights of the Nicaraguan people, who continue defenseless due to the dictatorial excesses committed by the current government.  Likewise, we call on the international community to raise its voice against the abuses that are ongoing against Nicaraguans by a regime that continues to be reluctant to uphold its international human rights commitments. 

November 20 – International Day of Transsexual Memory

“I am convinced that the engine of change is love.  The love we were denied
is our impetus to change the world.  All of the blows and slights
I suffered cannot compare with the infinite
love that surrounds me at this time.”
– Lohana Berkins (1965-2016), transvestite activist

On the International Day of Transsexual Memory, the International Institute on Race, Equality, and Human Rights honors the memory of transsexuals who have lost their lives as a result of acts of intolerance, hate, and discrimination due to their gender identity in Latin America and the Caribbean.  November 20 is also a day to celebrate the lives of transsexuals who, despite social exclusion, limits on exercising their rights, and the absence of social policies that address their basic needs, continue their fight to defend their rights and construct networks of social transformation starting from their local milieus.

Discrimination, violence, segregation against transsexuals, and diverse gender-based segregation constitute a structural aspect of society; therefore, throughout history, their rights have been subject to a vicious cycle of violence, degradation, and oppression that has made it harder for them to enjoy the guarantees of a decent and complete life.

Around the world, transsexuals are subject to mockery, blackmail, physical and sexual assault, and assassination due to their diverse identities.  In addition, they are denied the opportunity to decent employment, medical care in keeping with their needs, and to be seen as subjects worthy of respect and recognition in society.  The stigma to which transsexuals are subject leads to the ‘invisibilization’ of their realities and experiences, as well as ignorance regarding the multiple challenges, barriers, and human rights violations they face.  It is thus that in the majority of countries, data on violence against transsexuals and gender-diverse persons are not systematically produced; therefore, it becomes impossible to calculate the exact number of cases.

Race & Equality observes with concern how the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean continue to have the highest rates of homicides of transsexuals due to motives of prejudice and discrimination, as well as the rationale of machismo and fundamentalist ideas that ignore the diversity, freedom, and autonomy of individuals to identify and define themselves.

Notwithstanding these adverse contexts of violence, we see throughout Latin America experiences of solidarity and leadership that transcend the margins of social exclusion and make known the social demands of transsexuals.  Transsexual leaders are the ones who have been able to impact local public policies, build support networks that have evinced the violence they experience, and above all, generate creative responses for social change from spaces of exclusion.

Race & Equality, within the framework of this commemoration, calls on the States in the region to expand spaces for social dialogue with organizations of transsexuals [and] strengthen the mechanisms for investigating the violence of which this population has been the victim, so as to overcome impunity and jointly define with transsexual leaders social policies of transformation that truly impact their most immediate needs.  We are convinced that transsexuals should continue to be remembered for their transformative acts, rather than for the unpunished violence by which they are eliminated.

Nicaraguan human rights defenders will talk in Geneva about the evolution of the crisis in their country

Seven months after the current human rights crisis started in Nicaragua as a result of the government’s repression of peaceful protests, a group of human right defenders will hold a public conversation in Geneva on November 28th with the aim of making visible the consequences and permanence of the crisis. The crisis continues now with the prohibition of civic demonstrations and the prosecution of hundreds of protestants, students and activists who have been arrested for participating in protests and are being subjected to trials in which the guarantees of due process are disregarded.

In the conversation, organized by the International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality), the human rights defenders will describe their own experiences during the crisis and the risks they face in their daily work.

Special emphasis will be placed on the situation of injustice and defenselessness faced by populations that traditionally experience discrimination, such as women, indigenous persons, Afro-descendants and the LGBTI community. These groups have been repressed for defending democracy and demanding justice and respect for human rights.

The human right defenders will also refer to the situation faced by hundreds of political prisoners, who have reported torture and ill treatment in prisons and detention centers. According to the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (CENIDH, for its initials in Spanish), of the 602 citizens imprisoned as of November 14th for participating in the protests, 563 are men and 50 women, of which 4 are transgender women.

The image of “normality” that the Nicaraguan government intends to establish both nationally and internationally contrasts diametrically with the vision that human rights defenders will provide that day, which is that in Nicaragua “nothing is normal”, since the violations of human rights committed by the Nicaraguan authorities are systematic and remain unpunished.

Nicaragua will be evaluated by the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) in 2019. This review will offer human rights defenders, civil society organizations, and the international community an important opportunity to peacefully influence the crisis that today overwhelms the Nicaraguan people.

October 26: International Intersex Awareness Day

Within the framework of International Intersex Awareness Day, the International Institute on Race, Equality, and Human Rights (Race & Equality) calls for an end to the discrimination, exclusion, torture, patholization, unnecessary medicalization, and ‘invisibilization’ of intersex persons and their families in the region.  In this sense, Race & Equality reminds [people] that intersex persons are those whose sexual anatomy does not physically adjust to culturally-defined standards for the ‘feminine’ or ‘masculine’ body.  Having said that, what does that actually mean?  We set forth some questions and answers below so as to best approach this issue:

Is intersexuality the same as hermaphroditism?

No.  Although in the cultural imagination hermaphroditism is associated with the figure in Greek literature that has external sexual characteristics associated with the presence of a penis, a vulva, and breasts, in fact in botany and zoology hermaphroditism refers to the reproductive capacity of a plant or animal that can even self-inseminate.  When we refer to people, there is consensus in the scientific community that it is more appropriate to refer to intersexuality.  Some activists, such as Mauro Cabral, prefer to refer to themselves as intersex persons, thereby lending political value to this discussion beyond medical-legal discussions.

 Is intersexuality the same as transgenderism?

 No.  Although both concepts can converge, it is important to have a clear understanding that:

  1. Intersexuality is a biological characteristic that is associated with persons’ genetic and corporeal development (what we traditionally have called ‘sex’) and can be externally visible in the body of a person from the moment of his/her birth.
  2. Transgenderism is more associated with how a person constructs him/herself over the course of his/her life and how he/she presents him/herself to society (what we refer to as ‘gender identity’), although this process can include corporeal interventions to bring the body more into agreement with the [person’s] gender identity.

If intersexuality is biological and innate to a person, why is it necessary to have an intersex day?

  1. It is important to keep in mind that despite the fact that intersexuality if a biological reality, many people are not aware of this fact and by extension, of the existence of intersex persons.
  2. The denial of this biological reality in the educational arena (it is not taught from a young age) is also reflected in the legal sphere, which only recognizes ‘two biological sexes,’ even though the reality is much broader than that; this produces important consequences in the lives of intersex persons.
  3. The origin of this day dates back to 1996 when intersex activists protested in front of the Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Pediatrics in Boston against the genital mutilations and hormonal treatments performed on intersex persons at an early age without their informed consent.

Are intersex persons the victims of human rights violations?

Yes.  Intersex persons have been the victims of multiple violations reflected in various spheres of their lives:

  1. Their existence is denied in the legal and medical arenas, given that in many countries only two sexes are legally recognized: male and female. Nonetheless, this is changing with the recognition of gender neutrality.
  2. As a result of the foregoing, surgical procedures are imposed on intersex persons from a very early age. Current protocols are applied to them, even though that means carrying out unnecessary surgical interventions with the intention of ‘normalizing’ their genitals, without the person first giving his/her informed consent.  It should be noted that these interventions give rise to irreversible consequences in the emotional, physical, and sexual life of those individuals, including sterilization and genital mutilation, without them being medically necessary in the great majority of the cases.
  3. Human rights protection entities – such as the United Nations and the Inter-American Commission – have documents grave violations of intersex persons’ human rights, above all with relation to discrimination, ‘invisibilization,’ the lack of official information, medical treatments they tend to receive since birth and throughout the course of their lives, barriers to accessing their medical charts, and even difficulty with obtaining recognition of their legal status in public identity registries.
  4. According to the testimonies of diverse intersex persons, the nature of the interventions oftentimes gives rise to the need for multiple surgeries at different times in their lives, producing chronic pain, possible health problems, and the need to carry out extremely invasive routine procedures comparable to cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment or torture.

For all of these reasons, Race & Equality condemns the patholization and childhood genital mutilation practices endured by some intersex persons, and calls on the States in the region to assume their international obligations without further delay to protect human rights and comprehensively recognize, guarantee, and protect, with no patholization and in consultation with intersex persons, their human rights.

Race & Equality Rejects the Arbitrary Ban by Nicaraguan Authorities Denying Entry into the Country to Representatives of the Centro por la Justicia y el Derecho Internacional (CEJIL)

Washington, D.C. October 26 2018. The International Institute on Race, Equality, and Human Rights (Race & Equality) forcefully condemns the arbitrary ban on entry into Nicaragua imposed on the work team from the Centro por la Justicia y el Derecho Internacional [Center for Justice and International Law] (CEJIL), who in the morning of October 26 were to meet with President of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) Margarette Macaulay and members of the Special Monitoring Mechanism for Nicaragua (MESENI) to discuss topics related to the humanitarian crisis that began in the country on April 18.  The crisis has merited the attention of said body of the inter-American human rights protection system, as well as that of CEJIL, an international organization that has worked in Nicaragua for many years.

The incidents took place around 7 a.m. when representatives of CEJIL Marcia Aguiluz Soto, Francisca Estuardo Vidal, and Paola Limón were notified by airport authorities that they could not enter the country, alleging that they had not given the required amount of advance notice of their arrival.  Then, upon questioning by the delegation, [the authorities] put forth reasons related to the exercise of sovereignty that represent a new outrage committed against human rights defenders.  The authorities were intransigent, even when CEJIL displayed the formal invitation it had received from the IACHR.  In images published on CEJIL’s official Twitter account, one can see the team being escorted to depart the country, accompanied by a message denouncing “This is how they ‘escort’ us to leave #Nicaragua, when we attempt to enter in order to attend a meeting with the @cidh [IACHR].  They refuse us entry, despite having a formal invitation.  They make use of gimmicks and return us in less than an hour.  #SosNicaragua.”

We join our voice to other voices to emphatically reject and vehemently condemn this act as evidence of the grave humanitarian crisis underway in this Central American country, as well as the systematic hampering of the work of defending human rights.  We denounce the obvious intention of the Ortega-Murillo regime to isolate the international community from the repression, harassment, and criminalization which it continues to inflict on the people who continue to express themselves civically, especially directed against the activists, independent media outlets, [and] human rights defenders who are completely defenseless.  It was not for nothing that a few weeks ago it was made known that the working group from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) was kicked out of the country, and today one of the organizations that has historically worked for democracy and the guarantee of human rights was arbitrarily denied entry.  Nothing has improved in Nicaragua, as was affirmed today by OHCHR in its first monthly bulletin monitoring the situation.

All of these incidents lead us to elevate the international level of alert regarding the situation in Nicaragua [and] to ask the international community, human rights protection bodies, and the various expressions of civil society to redouble their efforts to ensure the prompt return of democracy, justice, and peace to Nicaragua.

Public Communiqué: Race & Equality Rejects Acts of Harassment and Intimidation against Journalist Sergio León, General Manager of Nicaragua’s La Costeñísima

Washington, DC. October 23. 2018 – The International Institute on Race, Equality, and Human Rights (Race & Equality) forcefully rejects and condemns the acts of pursuit, repression, and harassment committed against journalist Sergio León, General Manager of La Costeñísima, who was arbitrarily detained by the National Police on 21 October 2018 in Bluefields, a city located on Nicaragua’s Caribbean coast.

The incidents took place while the journalist and General Manager of La Costeñísima was driving his car on the streets of Bluefields after having been informed that an ostentatious heavily-armed police and anti-riot squad was deployed around the city, a situation which León decided to document, given it represented an unusual activity in that area.

While the journalist proceeded to make an audiovisual and photographic record of a caravan of police vehicles that were in the Colón sector of the Fátima neighborhood, the agents came to a halt, got out of their units in combat position and violently intercepted the journalist, alleging that the activity León was engaging in was not permitted, arguments that the latter questioned, by stating that no law exists prohibiting said activity as a journalist performing his professional work.

Immediately thereafter, the police officers asked [León] for documentation on the car, and even after finding that everything was in order, forced León to get out of his car and subjected him to an unusual inspection.  They then took him to a police station where he was detained for more than an hour and fined 320 córdobas (approximately US$10) without being provided any reason whatsoever.

In addition, after being released, the General Director of La Costeñísima discovered that one of his car tires had been dented by a punch and a steel nail, in a position such that when the car would start to move it would sink into the tire – an action that had also, according to the journalist’s denunciation, been committed against his daughter with the clear intention of threatening her life.

All of these incidents constitute clear violations of journalist Sergio León’s freedom of movement, expression, and the press.  In recent days, he participated in the 169th period of public hearings of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights by denouncing the systematic repression that has been pursued by the Ortega-Murillo regime, specifically against the media and independent journalists who oppose the dictatorial policies of the head of State and who, in their commitment to and performance of their work of providing information [to the public], have been subject to all types of acts of intimidation, persecution, harassment, and threats that infringe upon their fundamental rights.

Race & Equality demands that the Nicaraguan State cease the persecution and intimidation of independent journalists, and ensure that the rights to freedom of expression, opinion, and the press are guaranteed.  Likewise, we ask that it take into account the recommendations made by representatives of the media and journalists in the last public hearing of the 169th period of sessions of the IACHR to guarantee the lives and physical integrity of the journalists who today stand accused and censored.  We call on the international community to document the acts of repression and censorship to which Nicaraguan journalists are subject to on a daily basis, as well as to redouble its efforts to ensure that peace, truth, and justice return to the country promptly.

With Repression and Violence, the Ortega Regime Again Violates the Rule of Law in Nicaragua

Once again, the Ortega-Murillo Administration committed acts of repression against Nicaraguans peacefully participating on October 14 in a civil march, entitled “United for Liberty.” Activists and human rights defenders participated in the march calling for peace, justice, and liberty for the more than 400 political prisoners in Nicaragua.

While activists and well-known human rights defenders peacefully demanded that the Ortega regime free political prisoners, heavily armed anti-riot police violently attacked the demonstrators. According to an official communication from the police, the march constituted an instigating and provoking activity that obstructed the right to peace and freedom of movement of Nicaraguan families trying to carry out their daily activities. The communication indicated that 38 people were captured, 8 of which were released hours later. Among those detained include the political and social leaders Suyen Barahona, President of the Sandinista Renovation Movement; Ana Margarita Vijil, leader of the Sandinista Renovation Movement; and Jose Antonio Peraza, Director of the Movement for Nicaragua.

The International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality) emphatically condemns and rejects the repression and brutality employed by the Nicaraguan police against activists and human rights defenders, as well as the censorship and harassment of independent national and international media workers, who were also detained while exercising their work. All of these acts constitute a grave violation of the rights to social protest, freedom of expression and the press, as well as the integrity and security that Nicaraguans are entitled to under the International Bill of Human Rights and the Nicaraguan Constitution.

With concern we denounce the pattern of repression and violence of the Ortega-Murillo regime designed to intimidate the Nicaraguan people into ceasing to exercise their legitimate right to protest. This violates the fundamental rights of Nicaraguans as well as international law. The threats and acts of criminalization, intimidation, and censorship continue to escalate, demonstrating the low political will of the national government to work towards a peaceful solution to the conflict and its desire to install a de facto state of exception.

We demand that the government of Nicaragua ensure the safety of its people and cease committing acts of violence. Additionally, we call on the government to respect the rights of its citizens, some of whom have precautionary measures granted by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and are currently detained. We demand freedom for all unjustly prosecuted political prisoners and those detained yesterday while exercising their right to protest. We demand information about their whereabouts and the conditions in which they are detained.

Finally, we urgently call on the international community to increase its efforts to contribute to a peaceful solution to the crisis that has take more than 300 lives, has wounded more than 2,000 people, and has resulted in hundreds of political prisoners and disappeared persons.

Nicaraguan journalists and human rights defenders denounce the Nicaraguan government’s use of violence and repression in response to public protests in a hearing before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights

Boulder, Colorado. October 2, 2018. Journalists and human rights defenders participated in the 169th Period of Sessions of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) on October 2, 2018, where they denounced the violence and repression carried out by the government of President Daniel Ortega and Vice-President Rosario Murillo in response to the social protests in Nicaragua.

Nicaragua is experiencing a grave human rights crisis that has plagued the country since April 18. Since then, the government of Daniel Ortega has used violence and repression against those who have chosen to exercise their right to peaceful protest. The situation has continued to deteriorate and public protests are now formally criminalized under a police decree issued on September 28. The decree blames public citizens for aggression and harm suffered by the police and others. The decree also prohibits public demonstrations, threatening to prosecute and convict organizers and participants. The decree adds to the climate of terror and will increase the number of political prisoners.

During the public hearing, human rights defenders and journalists described the evolution of the crisis in Nicaragua, which, according to official reports by the IACHR, has gone through distinct stages of repression and varying levels of intensity of violence towards protestors, human rights defenders, the media, and citizens in general. Additionally, grave violations of the right to freedom of expression and freedom of the press were exposed in the report. The press has been subjected to attacks, aggression, and intimidation as well as theft, persecution and censorship.

According to the report presented by Marco Carmona, member of Nicaragua’s Permanent Commission of Human Rights (CPDH, for its initials in Spanish), paramilitary and para-police groups continue to run operations in coordination with the National Police, who are responsible for more than 320 killings in the country. Of these, 5 are children, 27 are young adults, and 13 are women. Mr. Carmona stated that more than 3,000 people have been wounded and 1,500 have been arbitrarily detained, 90% of whom have been subjected to acts of torture such as beatings, electric shocks, removal of nails, and sexual violence, among other acts. “Of the 603 individuals who are still detained, only 203 have been presented before a judge and accused of grave crimes such as terrorism, illegal possession of firearms, and organized crime. These individuals have had their right to due process violated,” stated the Nicaraguan representative.

Mr. Carmona also expressed that the repression against civil society organizations has not stopped. Many activists to leave the country because they receive death threats, including those who have been granted precautionary measures by the IACHR . This reflects the current state of defenselessness of the people of Nicaragua and is a result of the increase in violence committed by those called to “protect the public order.” These state forces are attacking people who carry only blue and white flags or balloons, the colors of the Nicaraguan flag.

Patricia Orozco, a journalist and representative of the independent Nicaraguan radio station Onda Local, stated in her presentation that exercising freedom of expression and freedom of the press, as is the legitimate right of journalists, is now considered a crime by the Ortega government if the messages expressed do not align with its dictatorial politics. She testified that “independent media has not been able to escape the terror policy of the government. Local radio stations are especially vulnerable because they are harassed by the police and paramilitaries for reporting on what is happening.”

In light of the information presented, Commissioner Joel Hernandez, Rapporteur on the Rights of Persons Deprived of Liberty, lamented the absence of the Nicaraguan State at the hearing and their lack of political will to hold a dialogue, as well as the ongoing conflict in the country. He also stated with great concern that the attacks against independent journalists and the media constitutes a fourth stage of the government’s repression.

Commissioner Hernandez also mentioned that the IACHR conducted a recent visit to the country, which the national government did not participate in. During the visit, testimonies from representatives of civil society organizations were collected. These testimonies revealed that political prisoners are facing difficult conditions in prisons and detention centers. Additionally, Commissioner Hernández also stated that the judiciary to better scrutinize charges of terrorism, especially given that the factor in the definition of this crime which relates to “disturbance of the constitutional order” is highly subjective and does not form part of international practices to suppress terrorism.

Executive Secretary of the IACHR Paulo Abrão expressed concern that the Nicaraguan state seems to be doing away with procedural rights and protections guaranteed under the rule of law and instead acting as if it is in a State of Exception, where certain rights are not respected. Secretary Abrão indicated that the way to prevent the State of Exception from becoming the norm is to respect judicial independence. Judges should denounce abuse of power by the police and rule against arbitrary detentions, which is currently not happening.

Sergio León, director of “La Costeñísima” testified that he is a victim of constant threats because of his work and that it is a great risk to be a journalist in Nicaragua, particularly in the areas of the Caribbean where journalist Ángel Gahona was murdered. Two young Afro-descendants were prosecuted and convicted for this crime under an inconsistent judicial process. Responding to this information, Edison Lanza, Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression, stated that “the persecution is intensifying. The State is trying to falsify reality and cover up its use of terror by touting a narrative that does not correspond to the national context.”

The Rapporteur for Nicaragua, Commissioner Antonia Urrejola issued an urgent call to the government of Nicaragua to not punish the activists for their participation in the hearing and stressed the need to make sure they are protected.

Representatives of civil society present at the hearing requested that the IACHR continue issuing public communications on the extreme vulnerablity of journalists and human rights defenders in the country. Furthermore, they requested that the IACHR call on the government to put an end to the repression against unarmed citizens and revoke the political decree that legally justifies the criminalization of social protests. They also requested that the IACHR pressure the government to end the harassment, intimidation, physical attacks, and censorship of journalists and members of the national and international press. The activists requested that the Nicaraguan State immediately release all political prisoners and take appropriate measures to protect journalists and human rights defenders from the risks they currently face. Finally, they asked the  IACHR to work with the government in developing a protocol for the effective implementation of these protection measures.

You can see the complete hearing (in Spanish) here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XECN6lLBEUU&t=2063s

Join Our Efforts

Help empower individuals and communities to achieve structural changes in Latin America.

Donate Contact Us