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Nicaragua will purchase 289 vehicles for the Army and National Police, supposedly to combat drug trafficking, organized crime, and to strengthen public security, according to four loan agreements signed with Belarus and ratified by the National Assembly on Wednesday, July 2, 2025.
Both institutions, described as the repressive arms of the Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo dictatorship, have received significant budget increases since 2018. This year, 9.2913 billion córdobas from Nicaragua’s 2025 General Budget were allocated to the Police and the Army, with both institutions receiving a budget increase of 826.6 million córdobas.
According to the decrees, the Nicaraguan Army will acquire 205 vehicles (off-road trucks, dump trucks, and tankers) and 29 pieces of construction machinery (loaders, excavators, tractors), along with spare parts to extend their lifespan.
These resources will allow the Nicaraguan Armed Forces to improve emergency response, biodiversity conservation, and the fight against illegal activities such as deforestation and drug trafficking, as well as reinforce security in rural and hard-to-reach areas, according to the project.
However, environmental organizations such as Fundación del Río have warned of the loss of thousands of hectares of forest, which have been illegally seized for housing construction and illegal mining. This invasion has been promoted by regime operators with the Army’s permissiveness.
Meanwhile, the National Police will purchase 50 land vehicles (off-road and city vehicles) to strengthen their operational capacity in urban and rural areas, and to respond to crimes such as cattle theft, drug trafficking, and organized crime.
Since 2018, the Police have been accused by national and international organizations of being part of the repression, intimidation, surveillance, and harassment of anyone identified as an opponent.
Both institutions responsible for repression
Six generals and five colonels from the top ranks of the Nicaraguan Army, along with the police chief, eight general commissioners, and one senior commissioner from the Police, were identified among 54 individuals responsible for serious human rights violations and crimes against humanity in the country, according to a detailed report by the UN Group of Human Rights Experts on Nicaragua (GHREN), published on April 3, 2025, in Geneva, Switzerland.
According to the 234-page report, these individuals play key roles in carrying out arbitrary detentions, torture, extrajudicial executions, persecution of civil society and the media, as well as in the denationalization and confiscation of private property.
Both institutions have been rewarded by the dictatorship not only with bigger budgets but also with discretionary privileges. In February 2025, the National Assembly approved a new State Administrative Procurement Law, which includes ten exceptions that benefit many of the purchases made by the Army and the National Police.
Opponents argue that going forward, the Army and the Police—previously legally required to be accountable for their contracts and purchases through bidding processes or simplified contracting—will now be exempt from the law and beyond oversight or control regarding how they use funds from the General Budget of the Republic.
Several loans with Belarus
To acquire these vehicles, the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit of Nicaragua signed two loan agreements totaling 25.5 million dollars with the Development Bank of the Republic of Belarus on May 29, 2025, for the Army.
For the National Police, on the same date, two loan agreements were signed for 4.8 million dollars, according to the decrees.
The loans, totaling 30.3 million dollars, were urgently requested by Ortega and Murillo and swiftly approved by the legislature, where the ruling party holds an absolute majority.
Ruling party deputy Wálmaro Gutiérrez stated in the plenary session that Belarus has approved 104.3 million dollars in loans to Nicaragua since 2023 for various projects.
In May 2025, Nicaragua and Belarus signed a credit agreement in Managua for the acquisition of machinery, along with a series of cooperation agreements on commercial and economic matters, for an undisclosed amount.
Additionally, they signed a roadmap for cooperation development between the Belarusian banks and Nicaragua’s Ministry of Finance and Public Credit; a comprehensive development plan for bilateral cooperation between Nicaragua and Belarus for the 2025-2030 period; and the protocol for the fourth session of the Joint Commission.
These agreements were signed during a visit to Nicaragua by a Belarusian delegation led by their Deputy Foreign Minister Evgeny Shestakov, which, according to official propaganda, aimed to strengthen economic, commercial, and technical-scientific cooperation.
With information from EFE
