Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega, right, and first lady Rosario Murillo, wave to supporters during an event commemorating the 36th anniversary of the Sandinista National Liberation Front. AP Photo\/Esteban Felix. All rights reserved.<\/i><\/p>\n
Daniel Ortega, a Commander during the Sandinista revolution that
\noverthrew a 50-year dynastic dictatorship, will hold office for a third
\nconsecutive term after being proclaimed the winner of Nicaragua's presidential
\nelection on 6 November. Ortega appointed Rosario Murillo, First Lady and
\nmanager of governmental communications, as his running mate and, by this move,
\nensured the concentration of power in his family's hands. For the past two
\nterms of the Ortega administration, the separation of powers, respect for human
\nrights and freedom of the press have steadily deteriorated in a worrying
\nrepetition of history.<\/p>\n
The electoral process on 6 November was characterised by massive abstention,
\nthe absence of major opposition parties from the ballot and a ban on
\nindependent international observers. The groundwork was laid well in advance
\nwhen, in June of the same year, the Supreme Court of Justice ousted 16 congressmen and 12 alternates from the
\nmajor opposition party. Amongst them, the Court removed the leader of the
\nopposition and appointed another congressman in his place – the latter deemed more amenable to the governing party.<\/p>\n
Against this background, human rights defenders are struggling to
\npreserve civil society space and to draw the attention of the international
\ncommunity to an increasingly authoritarian government. Francisca Ram\u00edrez has first hand experience of the repressive
\nnature of the regime: she has been intimidated and arbitrarily detained and her
\nfamily members were violently attacked in retaliation for her activism. Ram\u00edrez
\nis a land and environmental rights defender leading the civil society movement
\nopposing the construction of a transoceanic canal financed by the Hong Kong
\nbased HKND Group.<\/p>\n
In the rural community of La Fonseca, Nueva Guinea – where Ram\u00edrez is
\nfrom – people have risen up against the threat of forced eviction and destitution
\nthat the transoceanic canal represents. \u201cIn my community\u201d, says Ram\u00edrez, \u201cwe
\nare two thousand and we are well organised\u201d. During our conversation, the human
\nrights defender describes being accosted and intimidated by sympathisers of the
\nruling party and local government representatives, who she fears are now
\nemboldened by the re-election of Ortega. \u201cThe government, the police and the
\narmy\u2026 they all say we are criminals, they accuse me of being a drug dealer\u201d
\nrecounts Ramirez.<\/p>\n
The backlash against the environmental and land rights movement opposing
\nthe construction of the canal has worsened as a result of reforms that have
\nconcentrated power in the hands of the President. Chiefly amongst them is Law
\n288, a reform of the National Police force decried by major human rights
\norganisations. The law makes the President the highest authority for the
\nNational Police and renders several appointments within the institution a
\ndiscretionary choice of the President. The 2014 reform of the Army also gave
\nway for soldiers to take part in domestic policing, thus amending the
\nConstitution to allow for the the militarisation of law enforcement.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn this country, the In addition to the repressive nature of the government, Ram\u00edrez is On the other side of the country, where coffee plantations have As negative as this form of judicial harassment might be, the limitations \u201cWithout our land, we Lottie Cunningham Wren is a land rights defender and a defender of the \u201cThe participation of indigenous peoples in the electoral process is When asked what they need to persevere in their struggle, all three Human rights defenders in Nicaragua decry the absence or insufficient This year, Nicaraguans commemorated – in a bittersweet atmosphere – the Nicaraguan defenders are struggling to preserve vital civil society Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega, right, and first lady Rosario Murillo, wave to supporters during an event commemorating the 36th anniversary of the Sandinista National Liberation Front. AP Photo\/Esteban Felix. All rights reserved. Daniel Ortega, a Commander during the Sandinista revolution that overthrew a 50-year dynastic dictatorship, will hold office for a third consecutive term after…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1219","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1219","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1219"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1219\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\npowerful do not speak the truth – the truth is spoken by the people\u201d –
\nFrancisca Ram\u00edrez<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nfighting back against the propaganda and efforts to misinform citizens. The
\nlatter seems to be one of the biggest challenges when denouncing human rights violations
\nand mobilising fellow countrymen and women against them. \u201cFor a long time, the
\ngovernment has been dedicated to misinforming people, people are unaware of
\ntheir rights\u201d, says the campesino leader, \u201cthey think we are infringing on the
\ngovernment\u2019s rights every time we march!\u201d. Ram\u00edrez is also well aware that the
\nodds are stacked against her in the media, an industry where the Presidential
\nfamily has acquired substantial assets over the past five years. \u201cA news media
\noutlet is always ready to contradict everything I say\u201d, claims the defender.<\/p>\n
\ndominated the hills for centuries, Marellyn Somarriba of the Red de las Mujeres del Norte<\/em> (Network of
\nNorthern Women) confirms Ram\u00edrez assertions. \u201cOne of the strategies of the
\ngovernment is to promote itself\u201d says Somarriba, \u201call the attention is focused
\nin the government\u2019s [social] programmes\u201d. Somarriba fears that the re-election
\nwill bring more threats – and a higher likelihood that these will materialise
\n-, more criminalisation and further narrowing of civil society space, \u201cthe
\nharassment and the smear campaigns are becoming more sophisticated\u201d, she
\ncontends. The women\u2019s rights defender knows this possibility is all too real,
\nas another feminist organisation she is involved in – Las Venancias<\/em> – was falsely accused of financial mismanagement in
\n2008, allowing the State to open an invasive investigation and delegitimise the
\ndefenders.<\/p>\n
\nimposed on the work of the organisations by restrictive legislation is at least
\nequally prejudicial. Somarriba describes the 2014 implementation regulations
\nimposed for the Integral Law to counter
\nViolence against Women<\/em> (Law 779) as a substantive limitation to her
\nactivities. The law that was initially seen as a triumph for feminist
\norganisations was later amended by a Presidential decree that curtailed
\ndefenders' ability to physically accompany survivors of gender-based violence
\nas they appear before different governmental institutions in their pursuit of
\njustice.<\/p>\n
\ncease to exist – our relation to the land is spiritual\u201d – Lottie Cunningham<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nrights of indigenous peoples. As the founder of the Center for Justice and
\nHuman Rights of the Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua (CEJUDHCAN) and a leading human
\nrights lawyer, Cunningham has been an effective advocate for her people. Most
\nnotably, she contributed as an expert witness to the Awas Tingni vs Nicaragua
\ncase heard by the Inter-American Court on Human Rights, a turning point in
\nfavour of the land rights of indigenous peoples in the Americas. CEJUDHCAN\u2019s
\nstaff has faced considerable backlash because of their activism in favour of
\ndemarcating and titling the lands of indigenous peoples, including attacks,
\ndeath threats and intimidatory phone calls.<\/p>\n
\npractically inexistent\u201d, states Wren, \u201cwe are constantly faced with obstacles
\nto exercise our rights as citizens\u201d. Wren is looking to strengthen her movement
\nby building alliances countrywide with other defenders, consolidating existing
\nmonitoring mechanisms to track human rights violations and combat the isolation
\nof indigenous defenders in the Atlantic coast. \u201cAs indigenous peoples, we face
\nmany challenges and obstacles within a system that does not allow for dialogue,
\nwhich is more reason for us to continue the struggle for social justice and to
\nopen up spaces [for civil society]\u201d says Wren.<\/p>\n
\ndefenders – who come from different socio-economic backgrounds, operate in
\ncompletely different geographical areas and work to promote different rights –
\nall voice exactly the same request: space<\/em>.
\nThis space needed for civil society, for exercising their right to express
\ntheir concerns, to advocate for change, to peacefully demonstrate in the
\nstreets of their cities and create organisations that will represent the
\ninterests of their communities. As Somarriba describes, spaces for coordination
\nbetween non-partisan civil society organisations and the State are also quickly
\nvanishing.<\/p>\n
\ncondemnation from the international community towards the repression they face
\nand the deterioration of the rule of law in the country. Somarriba describes a
\nfeeling of abandonment when, despite the upsets, international experts have
\nrarely visited the country to meet defenders locally, in order to shed light on
\nthe human rights situation. To add to Somarriba's concerns, the government has
\nmade it increasingly difficult for international human rights organisations to
\nenter the country to monitor, document and visibilise the situation, having deported several activists in the past year.<\/p>\n
\n37th anniversary of the revolution that overthrew the Somoza dictatorship. This
\nannual celebration commemorates a generation's struggle and is a tribute to
\nthose who died in the conflict. In the north of the country, however, the threat
\nof armed conflict remains present. For centuries, this mountainous area has
\nbeen a hide out for rebel groups. After the revolution, it sheltered members of
\nthe Contra<\/em>, <\/em>an armed group
\nfunded by the US government that opposed Sandinista rule and perpetrated acts
\nof sabotage and atrocities against the civilian population. Somarriba tells me
\none of her major concerns is that as the grip of the current regime tightens,
\narmed groups could resurface. Already, she points to acts of sabotage and
\nskirmishes with army and police leaving several dead in small northern towns.
\nThe bodies are then presented as trophies of the war against organised crime,
\nbut Somarriba denounces these tactics as a way of covering up armed opposition
\nto the government.<\/p>\n
\nspace where values of equality and human dignity are upheld above the
\npersonalisation of power and ubiquitous clientelism. The country is at a
\nturning point where it might head for a one-party State.\u00a0 The question is whether this time the
\ninternational community is ready to support those who are using peaceful means
\nto counter increasing authoritarianism and ensure respect for human rights.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"