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The Nicaraguan government is systematically attacking the country’s university sector as part of its repressive campaign aimed at suppressing dissent, a new report by UN experts says , adding that some of these attacks could constitute crimes against humanity.
The 96-page report, which focuses on human rights violations against the education sector, mentions serious abuses such as the murder of students during the 2018 protests, torture of student leaders such as Lesther Alemán, Max Jerez or Yubrank Suazo, as well as deportations (14 of the 222 expelled in 2021 were university students).
“The Nicaraguan government has directly targeted universities as part of a widespread campaign of repression, eliminating their autonomy and turning them into centres of political control,” said Jan Simon, president of the Group of Human Rights Experts on Nicaragua that prepared the report.
Closures of dozens of institutions
The document denounces that after the 2018 protests, in which the student movement gained great prominence and took over university centers in cities such as Managua or León, a repressive policy was carried out that, among other effects, had the closure of dozens of universities and higher education centers and the confiscation of their assets, which affected some 37,000 students.
Some of these institutions whose legal status was revoked had been important centres of student mobilisation during the protests, such as the Central American University or the Polytechnic University of Managua.
The report also records the arbitrary expulsion of at least 150 students between 2018 and 2022, mainly in retaliation for having participated in protests, and cases in which students’ registration was “de facto” cancelled without warning.
In the case of the arrests of students (at least 52 according to UN experts), the report denounces the lack of due process (they were not brought before a judge within 48 hours, nor were their families informed of the whereabouts of those arrested), as well as numerous abuses during the period of detention.
“They were subjected to long and exhaustive interrogations, at all hours, carried out by police officers who were sometimes hooded,” the document said, listing various methods of torture or psychological torture used against the detained students.
Trials without guarantees
Many of these detainees ended up being convicted of serious crimes such as terrorism, possession of weapons or aggravated robbery, receiving prison sentences of up to 15 years, in trials “with a total absence of procedural guarantees,” said the report by the group of three experts.
Regarding the responsibility for these abuses, the report points to various State institutions, starting with President Daniel Ortega and Vice President Rosario Murillo, who “used various State entities to commit the human rights violations and crimes described.”
The report used data obtained from interviews with 130 affected people, some remotely and others during three field missions.
The group of experts highlighted the leading role that Nicaraguan students have played in the country’s history, to the point that the Sandinista National Liberation Front itself, which has governed for the past 17 years, was largely made up of university students who led the 1979 revolution.
The violations and abuses of this social sector “reflect the government’s intention to control any space that allows criticism and the independent leadership of resistance, protest or dissent,” the document concludes.
