UN experts blame Nicaragua for at least 8 custody deaths since 2018
UN human rights experts say Nicaragua is responsible for at least eight deaths in custody since 2018 and document 161 disappearances.
United Nations human rights experts have concluded that the Nicaraguan government bears responsibility for at least eight deaths in custody since it launched a crackdown on dissent and began dismantling democratic institutions in 2018.
The findings were published Tuesday by the U.N. Group of Human Rights Experts on Nicaragua, whose report amounts to the latest international rebuke of the government of co-Presidents Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo. The administration has suppressed opposition since mass protests erupted in 2018 and has more recently annulled elections.
"A State that resorts to enforced disappearance and allows persons to die in its custody falls short of the minimum human rights standards required for credible democratic governance," said Jan-Michael Simon, who chairs the expert group.
The report focused in part on the death of Indigenous Miskito leader Brooklyn Rivera, who spent 32 months in prison with almost no contact with his family before dying in May. It highlighted inconsistencies in the government's account of his death.
Officials attributed the death to complications from a prior COVID-19 infection, a detail that earlier statements in the days before his death had not mentioned. An independent assessment by Physicians for Human Rights described that explanation as "not medically coherent." The assessment also concluded that the timing of the illness and the pattern of organisms identified indicated the infections were acquired in custody or in a hospital rather than in the community.
Because no independent investigation or autopsy was ordered, the statements surrounding Rivera's death could not be independently verified, the report said. Its authors urged the government to hand Rivera's body to his family so he can be buried according to Miskito traditions.
Murillo said Rivera had received medical care and family support throughout his illness. The government did not respond to a request for further comment.
The experts also documented failures of care in the deaths of Humberto Ortega, the president's estranged brother; former Sandinista guerrilla fighter Hugo Torres; and lawyer Carlos Cárdenas Zepeda.
Beyond the custody deaths, the group recorded the disappearance of at least 161 people since 2018. It called on the government to disclose information about 29 people whose whereabouts remain unknown and to free anyone held on political grounds.