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Ten years ago, in Latin America, it would have been hard to imagine how freedom and democracy would be eroded, as we see it today in countries like Venezuela and Nicaragua and much more subtly, in other countries within the region. However, it could be argued that the dubious elections of 2008 in Nicaragua were an indication of what was yet to come.
The agony of these elected governments in power and their totalitarian practices give no respite to the victims whose lives – not only their freedom (as expected when democracy breaks down) – are at risk, merely for defending their freedom. The situation in Nicaragua as described, is one of the worst in Latin America, one that no one would ever have imagined ten years earlier. They are using the worst repressive practices that remind us of the totalitarian regimes of the seventies.
Young students die at the hands of the State through both State and illegal parastatal repressive forces. The recent accounts about paramilitary and public forces beating a 21-year old pregnant woman[1], telling her that they would not stop until they killed her baby (which they did), shows the loss of humanity by an oppressive leader and his regime.
This is not the first time that a woman’s body has been mercilessly beaten. Many women suffer from acts of violence like this in Latin America and across the globe. Women’s bodies have been and continue to be the subject of abuse, battery and violation during times of civil unrest and military conflicts.
Furthermore, neither will this be the first time that law enforcement and paramilitary forces collide to repress, menace, torture and kill civilians, including students who often are instrumental in forming an organized resistance against repressive regimes, whether left or right wing.
In the case of Nicaragua, it is hard to see how a regime that initially came to power through democratic elections, used all its means to remain in power and started curtailing freedoms, to the point of using institutionality and para-institutionality to repress and violate human rights of men, women, boys and girls.
Feminist organizations in Nicaragua and within the region were the first to criticize the Ortega-Murillo regime, when Ortega opposed the liberalization of abortion and other civil freedoms. Currently, in Nicaragua, social and feminist organizations cannot exercise their right to voice opinions and as a result, human right advocates are concerned about their lives.
The international community has also faced a reduction of its capacity to act in the country. The United Nations Office of the Resident Coordinator and the offices of many United Nations agencies and programs have closed their offices a few years ago when the Ortega-Murillo regime decided that they were “persona non-grata”. During the past weeks, human rights authorities in the region have been expressing their concern in the media and by way of official statements.[i]
In the region and globally, we are now aware that we are facing a deep crisis in Nicaragua as we continue to witness the deterioration of democracy. It is time for the international community to acknowledge that those who currently flee Nicaragua and those who have been fleeing Venezuela, are in many cases refugees and not just simply economic migrants. Their economies continue to decline, as there is no longer a democracy; both Ortega and Murillo have destroyed the rule of law.
We have to assume that we have economic migrants as well as political refugees within Latin America. It is time to acknowledge this situation and to provide refugee status when many of the so-called migrants are in fact refugees. However, this on its own will not be enough. It is time to also address the issue around the use of the state to kill civilians and support those who are not able to leave their countries or do not have the means to reach the border without being caught and/or killed by the military and paramilitary forces, and thus, cannot see the way out of these new kinds of dictatorships.
Those who are forced to live as refugees know that the possibility of residing as such in other countries and with international solidarity, help them to continue with their lives and to overcome the exile imposed by repression and totalitarianism. International solidarity is needed to reorganize their lives when in exile, to continue the fight for freedom and hope once again that they will be able to return to their country and live in a democracy.
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[1] https://100noticias.com.ni/nacionales/92225-policia-tortura-embarazada/
[i] Some statement:
– On June 22, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights the report “Gross Human Rights Violations in the Context of Social Protests in Nicaragua”, with the following Annex: List of people reported killed in Nicaragua, within the framework of social protests (April 19 to June 19, 2018).
– Amnesty International, through its Director for the Americas, Erika Guevara Rosas, expressed that “the upsurge of attacks against civilians by Nicaragua’s government agents and parapolice groups acting with their acquiescence, during the last days, shows the pretense and lack of commitment of President Ortega.” https://www.amnesty.org/es/latest/news/2018/06/nicaragua-aumenta-la-violencia-y-la-represion-estatal-a-pesar-de-los-multiples-esfuerzos-de-dialogo/
– In Geneva, on July 5, 2018, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, urged Nicaragua’s authorities to take immediate action to end violence: https://www.ohchr.org/SP/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=23335&LangID=S
– On July 18, 2018, OAS passed a resolution expressing “strong condemnation and sheer concern towards all the acts of violence” in Nicaragua and ordered to dismantle parapolice groups: http://scm.oas.org/doc_public/SPANISH/HIST_18/CP39517S03.doc