3 de April 2025
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A total of 54 high-ranking Nicaraguan officials, identified by name, position, and surname, have been named as responsible for serious human rights violations and crimes against humanity in the country. This is according to a new and detailed report by the United Nations Group of Human Rights Experts on Nicaragua (GHREN), published on April 3, 2025, in Geneva, Switzerland.
The list includes six generals and five colonels from the high command of the Nicaraguan Army, the national police chief, eight general commissioners, and one senior commissioner from the police force—all part of the repressive apparatus directly controlled by Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo.
The report also provides an in-depth analysis of institutional structures, chains of command, and the “state and individual” responsibilities of those involved in the state-led repression following the April 2018 uprising.
“For the first time, we reveal how dozens of individuals are linked to the human rights violations and crimes documented in our previous reports,” said Jan-Michael Simon, chairman of the Group of Experts.
According to the 234-page document, these individuals play key roles in the execution of arbitrary detentions, torture, extrajudicial executions, persecution of civil society and the media, as well as in the denationalization and confiscation of private property.
“What we discovered is a tightly coordinated system of repression, extending from the Presidency down to local officials,” said Ariela Peralta, the Group’s expert. “These are not random or isolated incidents,” added Simon, “they are part of a deliberate and well-orchestrated state policy, which is carried out by identifiable actors through defined chains of command.
The experts reiterated their call for the international community to take urgent and concrete measures, including legal action, sanctions and increased support for victims and civil society.
“This report is a roadmap for justice,” said Reed Brody, the Panel’s expert. “States, prosecutors and international institutions now have the names, structures and evidence needed to move forward on accountability,” added the Panel’s expert.
In addition, the report describes and analyzes the human rights situation in Nicaragua, detailing systematic violations and abuses. It also exposes patterns of repression, including:
- Killings and extrajudicial executions
- Incarceration and arbitrary detentions
- Torture and cruel treatment
- Enforced disappearances
- Deportations
- Pursuit
- Denial of fundamental rights
CONFIDENCIAL details who the 54 officials and political operators identified by GHREN in the repressive apparatus of the dictatorship are, organized according to the institutions and positions they represent and the role they played or continue to play against the human rights of Nicaraguans inside and outside the country.
President and repressive arms
Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo are at the “top of the chain of command” and direct repressive actions. Through presidential advisors, such as Néstor Moncada Lau, they issue “operational orders” to the main state institutions. Murillo, according to GHREN, exercises “close control” over the National Police, headed by Francisco Javier Díaz Madriz, which constitutes the main “political and repressive arm” of the dictatorship.
Julio César Avilés Castillo, commander of the Nicaraguan Army, and Luis Roberto Cañas Novoa, vice minister of the Ministry of the Interior, participate in this repressive chain and other key entities that make up the National Intelligence Committee, which centralizes surveillance information and answers directly to Ortega.
Daniel Ortega, “co-president“
He controls together all the powers (now reduced to bodies) and institutions of the State alongisde his wife. He secured a third consecutive term in office after annulling opposition political parties and imprisoning pre-candidates.
Rosario Murillo, “co-president“
Together with her husband she gave orders to direct the repression. The Group points out that she was in charge of the chain of command of the repression, giving the order “let’s go all out” which resulted in the massacre against the protest, which left hundreds of people murdered.
NATIONAL POLICE
Francisco Díaz Madriz
First commissioner and director of the National Police. He ordered that police officers will use “lethal force against demonstrators” to respond “with all available force, without sparing resources or reserving any type of action”.
Zhukov Serrano Pérez
Commissioner General, Deputy Director General and Head of Police Investigation and Intelligence since 2022. One of those in charge of “identifying persons to be expelled” with political surveillance.
Justo Pastor Urbina
Commissioner General and head of the Directorate of Special Police Operations. He directed the participation of the DOEP in the repression and dismantling of the barricades.
Ramón Avellán Medal
Former Deputy Director General. Actively participated in repressive actions with pro-government armed groups and personally led the repression in Masaya and Monimbó.
Adolfo Marenco Corea
Former deputy director general and head of Police Investigation and Intelligence, until 2022. Another of those in charge of “identifying people to expel” with political surveillance.
Luis Pérez Olivas
Commissioner General, Chief of Judicial Assistance (Managua). Used clandestine detention centers and police stations to interrogate arbitrarily detained persons.
Juan Victoriano Ruiz
Head of the Directorate of Judicial Assistance in Managua, since 2023. He also used the DAJ, stations and other centers for interrogation of arbitrarily detained persons.
Horacio Rocha
Retired general commissioner, former minister advisor. Issued arrest warrants for expulsion from the country and evicted the president of the CSJ without legal procedure.
Juan Valle Valle
Commissioner General and head of the Department of Surveillance and Patrolling. He transmitted repression orders and ensured that each order was “controlled and supervised”.
Farle Roa Traña
Major commissioner, second chief of the Judicial Assistance Directorate (2018 to October 2019). He assisted Luis Pérez Olivas at the DAJ.
NICARAGUAN ARMY
Julio César Avilés
Chief of the Army. He ordered the participation of the military in the repression of the demonstrations in spite of the fact that he had no authority in matters of public security.
Bayardo Ramon Rodriguez
Chief of General Staff. On April 20, 2018, in a meeting with the Army high commands he read a “presidential order” that “was assimilated to a combat disposition” directing the military units to “neutralize” the leaders of the demonstrations, who were allegedly promoting a coup d’état.
Rigoberto Balladares Sandoval
Brigadier General. For fourteen years he was the head of the Directorate of Defense Information (DID), until Murillo ordered his fall in July 2024. Part of the unit that maintained “control over intelligence operations” in 2018.
Leonel Gutiérrez López
Brigadier General and head of the Directorate of Intelligence and Counterintelligence. Part of the directorates that assumed “operational control of repression” in 2018.
Álvaro Peña Núñez
Colonel, and head of the Directorate of Information for the Defense, after the fall of Rigoberto Balladares. He is dedicated to “political surveillance of critical people” of the dictatorship.
Marvin Antonio Paniagua
Brigadier General and head of the Directorate of Public and International Relations, formerly head of the Sixth Regional Military Command. He ordered the participation of personnel from his unit in the 2018 repression, “wearing police uniforms or civilian clothes, to support the Police and pro-government armed groups”.
Manuel Salvador Gaitan
Brigadier General, Chief, General Directorate of Doctrine and Teaching, formerly Infantry Colonel, Chief, Special Operations Command, National Army (2018). In 2018, he ordered the “deployment of snipers with precision rifles designed for long-range shots with high accuracy.”
Denis Hernández Martínez
Infantry Colonel, Chief of the Fifth Regional Military Command. In 2018, he ordered the participation of personnel from his military unit in the repression, “wearing police uniforms or civilian clothes.”
Vladimir Ilich Martinez
Artillery Colonel, Chief, Second Regional Military Command. Part of the military commands that ordered the participation of personnel from their military units in the 2018 crackdown.
Alvaro Rivas Castillo
Infantry Colonel, Chief of the Southern Military Detachment. He ordered the repression of the protests, as a consequence of the “presidential order” read on April 20.
José Hilcias Rizo
Infantry colonel, head of the First Regional Military Command. He also ordered his personnel to repress citizen protests in 2018.
MINISTRY OF THE INTERIOR
Luis Roberto Cañas
Vice Minister of the Interior. He instructed directors of detention centers to obstruct access to defense lawyers and disobey court orders for release and personal exhibition. In addition, he gave orders to implement a systematic policy of discriminatory treatment against political prisoners, and directs a team to decide whether or not a person enters Nicaragua.
Franya Ya-Rue Urey Blandón
In charge of the General Directorate of Registration and Control of Non-Profit Organizations of the Ministry of the Interior. Her work has included canceling and justifying the massive cancellation of the legal personality of non-profit organizations. Approximately 5500 nGOs have been cancelled since the end of 2018. First by the Assembly and now by the Mint.
PRESIDENTIAL ADVISORS
Néstor Moncada Lau
Presidential advisor on security and intelligence. One of those in charge, together with Fidel Moreno, of gathering information from the intelligence network. Transmitted orders to the police to carry out arrests of identified persons. In charge of the channel for transmitting presidential orders to the Judicial Power.
Fidel Moreno, mayors and FSLN
The repression apparatus includes Fidel Moreno Briones, who as trusted confidant of Rosario Murillo, directs the restructuring of the Judiciary since 2024, and is in charge of “profiling people who are considered a threat”.
The political secretaries of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) are present in all public institutions and play key roles in the “surveillance and intelligence network of the state apparatus”.
Among the most prominent political secretaries in the repression are mayors Sadrach Zeledón Rocha, in Matagalpa, and Leónidas Centeno Rivero, in Jinotega, who “led the repression in their respective departments”. The Sandinista Youth, under the leadership of figures loyal to Murillo such as Pedro Amilkar Orozco, also promotes the “ideas and objectives of the Sandinista Front”.
Fidel Moreno Briones
Secretary General of the Mayor’s Office of Managua and Secretary of National Organization of the Sandinista Front. He is one of the leaders of the political secretaries at the national level. On April 18, 2018 he gave the order to recruit shock forces with the “purpose of defending the revolution”. A day later, on April 19, he transmitted the order known as “vamos con todo” (let’s go all out), from Murillo, to justify the repression. The GHREN has “reasonable grounds” to believe that, on his order, officials of some state institutions were armed, and in some cases forced, to participate in the repression.
MAYORS AND SECRETARIES
Leónidas Centeno Rivera
Mayor of Jinotega. He was one of the leaders of the repression in that northern department.
Sadrach Zeledón Rocha
Mayor of Matagalpa. He was one of the leaders of the repression in that department.
Evertz Delgadillo Moreno
Until 2022, was departmental political secretary of the FSLN in León and was one of the repressive leaders.
SANDINISTA YOUTH
Pedro Amilkar Orozco
Former coordinator of the Sandinista Youth July 19 in Managua. Loyal to Rosario Murillo. Coordinated the “shock groups” in 2018. Although he left office, according to testimonies and GHREN documents, he continues to exercise de facto in direct contact with Fidel Moreno. He was supported by a high command of the Police, with armed civilian officers for repression, consolidating “shock groups”.
Milton Ruiz García
Former national coordinator of JS. One of the leaders of the “troll farms”. Facilitated the participation of “shock groups” in intimidation and surveillance actions, led shock brigades on Murillo’s orders. With local FSLN and Police structures, facilitated the mobilization of armed militants who attacked in universities and neighborhoods identified as opposition.
Branches or organs of government and public institutions
The Group of Experts notes that Gustavo Porras Cortés, president of the National Assembly, has been instrumental in the approval of laws that facilitated the confiscation of assets from non-profit organizations, human rights defenders, media, religious organizations and private universities.
The report details that the Attorney General’s Office (PGR), with the support of the Police, has directed these seizures by executing judicial and Presidential orders.
Within this modus operandi, the Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ), headed by magistrate Marvin Aguilar García, together with judges of the Judicial Branch, magistrates of the Court of Appeals and the Public Prosecutor’s Office, are in charge of fabricating cases against political prisoners to justify arbitrary detentions.
In the chain of command, Murillo orders the Nicaraguan Social Security Institute (INSS) to confiscate pensions. GHREN has information on 452 denationalized persons and their families whose pensions have been confiscated.
In addition, the Nicaraguan Institute of Telecommunications and Postal Services (Telcor), headed by Nahima Janett Díaz Flores, works to illegally intercept communications and manages “troll farms” for disinformation and harassment campaigns.
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
Gustavo Porras
President of the National Assembly. He has played an essential role in the use of the Legislative Power to comply with the repressive objectives of the Executive Power, with the approval of repressive laws.
Filiberto Rodríguez
Congressman, president of the Peace, Defense, Governance and Human Rights Commission. Between December 2018 and September 2022, he signed most of the initiatives to cancel nGOs.
SUPREME COURT OF JUSTICE
Marvin Aguilar García
Vice President of the CSJ and acting president. He transmitted instructions from the Presidency to the then president of the CSJ, Alba Luz Ramos and the then president of the TAM, Gerardo Rodríguez.
Juana Méndez
Magistrate. On May 11, 2023, she “arbitrarily and permanently” suspended 25 lawyers from practicing law among the 317 persons arbitrarily deprived of their nationality in 2023.
Alba Luz Ramos
Former President of the CSJ. She had knowledge of the decisions that facilitated judicial measures against 222 exiled former political exiles “without guaranteeing due process”.
PROSECUTOR’S OFFICE
Ana Julia Guido
Attorney General. She was in charge of transmitting political instructions to prosecutors and judges regarding persons to be prosecuted and in the “fabrication of cases”.
Douglas Vargas Flores
Inspector General and political secretary in the Attorney General’s Office. He played a key role in the fabrication of cases that led to the subsequent confiscation of citizens.
Javier Antonio Morazán
Head of the Organized Crime Unit. Headed a small group of trusted prosecutors who met with police to fabricate political cases.
MAGISTRATES
Henry Antonio Morales. Managua Court of Appeals (TAM) until 2023. In charge of supervising the judges of Managua.
Ernesto Leonel Rodriguez Mejia. President TAM as of 2021. He transmitted the guidance of Magistrate Marvin Aguilar García and supervised the judges with the support of Henry Antonio Morales. He convened meetings prior to the hearings of political prisoners in his office, which were attended by criminal district judges, prosecutors, public defenders and police. Together they “made sure that everyone involved knew and followed the predetermined script of the process,” which included “dismissing defense objections, even those pointing out procedural irregularities, accepting without question the evidence presented by the prosecution, and ignoring evidence presented by the defense.
Luis Gerardo Rodríguez Olivas. President TAM until 2021. Part of those who “deliberately hindered or prevented the execution of the writs of habeas corpus filed on behalf of opposing persons”, denying the victims their right to appear and challenge the legality of their detention before a court.
Octavio Ernesto Rothschuh Andino. President of Criminal Chamber One since 2021. On February 9, 2023 issued a resolution declaring 222 Nicaraguans arbitrarily deprived of their freedom as “traitors to the homeland” and ordering their “immediate deportation”.
JUDGES
Karen Vanessa Chavarría Morales. Ninth Criminal District Court of Managua. As political co-secretary of the FSLN at the level of the Court of Appeals of Managua, she transmitted orientations and supervised the judges of Managua.
Gloria María Saavedra Corrales, Tenth Criminal District Court of Managua. She was in charge of ordering the seizure and confiscation of the Central American University (UCA).
Nadia Tardencilla Rodríguez, Second Criminal District Trial Court of Managua. Arbitrarily deprived Monsignor Rolando José Álvarez Lagos, Bishop of Matagalpa, of his nationality.
PENITENTIARY SYSTEM
Roberto Clemente Guevara Gómez. Warden, Director of the Maximum Security Penitentiary Directorate, “La 300”. One of those in charge of giving instructions for “even harsher treatment, with intentionally inflicted affectations” against persons detained for political reasons. This discriminatory treatment “amounts to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and in some cases to torture”.
Venancio Miguel Alaniz Ulloa. Deputy General Administrative Director, General Directorate of the National Penitentiary System. He has been directly involved in the management of persons deprived of their liberty for political reasons and their placement inside the prison. “Their participation in the application of control strategies has been constant, consolidating a system of differentiated and discriminatory treatment in detention centers that in many cases they qualify as cruel treatment and even torture.” He has directly supervised the application of disciplinary measures, including prolonged isolation, arbitrary restrictions on family and legal visits, as well as denial of medical care. Under his administration there have been repressive operations inside La Modelo prison, characterized by the disproportionate use of force.
Julio Guillermo Orozco. General Director of the National Penitentiary System. He ordered “disobedience and contempt of court orders,” instructing detention center directors to “obstruct defense attorneys’ access to their clients and systematically refuse to comply with release and personal appearance orders.”
William Trujillo Vega. Deputy Warden of the “La 300” Maximum Security Penitentiary. Involved in “acts of torture, ill-treatment, threats and beatings” against persons deprived of liberty for political reasons.
TELCOR
Nahima Janett Díaz Flores
Director General of the Nicaraguan Institute of Telecommunications and Post (Telcor), part of the institutions that identify “persons subject to expulsion” in coordination with the Army, the National Police, the FSLN, the Ministry of the Interior. She is the one who “delivers all the information about calls, cell phone messages and internet”.
SOCIAL SECURITY
Roberto José López
Executive President of INSS and political secretary of that institution. He is one of Murillo’s “closest” officials. It has ordered the confiscation of pensions from senior citizens, including those arbitrarily deprived of their nationality by judicial resolution, “negatively affecting their living conditions”. Also pensions for former public employees and opponents abroad.
GENERAL PROCURACY
Wendy Morales Urbina
Attorney General. It forwards to the Physical Cadastre lists of properties to be transferred to the State’s patrimony or to specific institutions. Includes properties arbitrarily seized after fabricated judicial processes or those that are identified and confiscated after their owners are identified as opponents. They obtain information through “home visits”.
Centralization of repression
The GHREN report concludes that Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo “have executed a progressive strategy to entrench absolute control” and to achieve this they have “systematically carried out serious human rights violations”.
“This trend has culminated in a constitutional reform designed to cement unchecked executive authority: the final blow to the rule of law and basic freedoms in Nicaragua, dismantling what little was left of institutional checks and balances,” they detail.
They mention that the country’s entire repressive apparatus “is centrally controlled” by Ortega and Murillo, supported by high-level state and party officials.
GHREN warns that the human rights situation in Nicaragua “has deteriorated to the point that restoring democracy and the rule of law will take years and considerable resources.”
“The longer it takes for the international community to take firm action, the greater the burden,” they insist.
