{"id":168073,"date":"2025-06-07T00:28:00","date_gmt":"2025-06-07T06:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/confidencial.digital\/sin-categoria\/nicaraguas-14-missing-political-prisoners\/"},"modified":"2025-06-11T09:58:57","modified_gmt":"2025-06-11T15:58:57","slug":"nicaraguas-14-missing-political-prisoners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/confidencial.digital\/en\/english\/nicaraguas-14-missing-political-prisoners\/","title":{"rendered":"Nicaragua\u2019s 14 Missing Political Prisoners"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

At least fourteen political prisoners are in a state of forced disappearance in the Nicaraguan jails, with family members deprived of any information regarding their whereabouts or state of health.<\/p>\n\n

This forced disappearance<\/a> is a systematic practice of crimes against humanity, and international law defines it as deliberately concealing the whereabouts of those detained by government agents, according to the organization Mechanism for the Recognition of Political Prisoners of Nicaragua.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cForced disappearance means that there\u2019s no definitive proof of the place where they are\u2026 it\u2019s considered a forced disappearance because their whereabouts are being concealed,\u201d Claudia Pineda, spokesperson for Mechanismo, explained to CONFIDENCIAL<\/strong> and the online television news program Esta Semana<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n

In an interview with journalist Carlos F. Chamorro, which airs on Sunday, June 8 on the CONFIDENCIAL<\/strong> YouTube channel, Pineda confirmed that the families of these Nicaraguans live with the anguish of not knowing whether their loved ones are alive or dead.<\/p>\n\n

According to the Mechanism\u2019slatest report, a total of 52 political prisoners remain in Nicaraguan jails, including the 14 disappeared. Of this total, 32 have been sentenced in bogus trials that don\u2019t meet minimum standards of due process, while 19 remain in detention without ever having been tried. <\/p>\n\n

Disregard of the International Court<\/h2>\n\n

In early June 2025, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ordered the immediate release of three disappeared political prisoners: Angelica Chavarria<\/a>, partner of retired Army General Humberto Ortega Saavedra, brother of Daniel Ortega, who was detained in May 2024 and died while a political prisoner; Julio Quintana<\/a>, a lawyer from Le\u00f3n, detained in November 2024; and Alejandro Hurtado, a politician from the Independent Liberal Party, detained in January 2025. The response of the regime was the same as always: absolute silence. <\/p>\n\n

\u201cThe State of Nicaragua has not responded to any of [the Court\u2019s] petitions, requests or demands,\u201d denounced Pineda.<\/p>\n\n

In November 2022, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights declared the Nicaraguan State in \u201cpermanent contempt\u201d of numerous orders to release political prisoners. It referred the situation to the General Assembly of the Organization of American States, although the Nicaraguan dictatorship has formally withdrawn from that forum.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cProlonged disregard by the State persists, which places the beneficiaries of the provisional measures in an increasingly vulnerable situation, and implies an increase in the situation of risk,\u201d the Inter-American Human Rights Court indicated in a resolution finalized on November 29, 2022.<\/p>\n\n

Pineda confirmed that international organizations such as the United Nations are aware of the situation of the political prisoners and the cases of forced disappearance. However, she noted, the dictatorship has cut off all communication, even with the International Red Cross. The Nicaraguan government \u201chasn\u2019t even recognized that it is holding these people prisoner, despite the fact that \u201cthere\u2019s evidence that they were jailed,\u201d she added. <\/p>\n\n

This systematic denial converts each case into a clear-cut forced disappearance, in which the authorities erase all traces of their victims, leaving the families to face ongoing psychological torture.<\/p>\n\n

List of the fourteen political prisoners in forced disappearance<\/h2>\n\n

According to a report published in April 2025<\/a> by the \u201cMechanism for the Identification of Political Prisoners in Nicaragua\u201d the 14 prisoners in forced disappearance are:<\/p>\n\n