{"id":174073,"date":"2025-09-07T01:20:00","date_gmt":"2025-09-07T07:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/confidencial.digital\/sin-categoria\/express-burials-of-two-political-prisoners-another-form-of-impunity-in-nicaragua\/"},"modified":"2025-09-08T04:05:05","modified_gmt":"2025-09-08T10:05:05","slug":"express-burials-of-two-political-prisoners-another-form-of-impunity-in-nicaragua","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/confidencial.digital\/en\/nation\/express-burials-of-two-political-prisoners-another-form-of-impunity-in-nicaragua\/","title":{"rendered":"Express Burials of Two Political Prisoners: Another Form of Impunity in Nicaragua"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Ortega-Murillo dictatorship in Nicaragua ordered the families of political prisoners Mauricio Alonso<\/a> and Carlos C\u00e1rdenas<\/a>, who died in state custody, to bury them quickly, in what human rights defenders describe as a tactic to cover up its crimes and ensure impunity. They say this tactic occurs in the context of a \u201cheightened state of terror\u201d in Nicaragua. <\/p>\n\n

Although the regime has not acknowledged that Alonso and C\u00e1rdenas were under its custody at the time of their deaths, as it did with other deceased political prisoners,<\/a> the families of the deceased report that both were detained by police officers. From that point, they received no information about their whereabouts until the Institute of Legal Medicine (IML) delivered their bodies. <\/p>\n\n

Human rights defender Gonzalo Carri\u00f3n, from the collective Nicaragua Nunca M\u00e1s, explains that by ordering expedited burials, the regime ensured that \u201cno one had access to the bodies\u201d of political prisoners Alonso and C\u00e1rdenas. This prevented more people from questioning the circumstances of their deaths, and blocked any approach to the truth of what happened.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cThe way they were buried immediately, so quickly, has the purpose of burying the truth,\u201d Carri\u00f3n warns. In this way, \u201cthey guarantee total secrecy, so that no one has access to those bodies. No one knows what condition they were in, or the circumstances and manner in which their lives were taken,\u201d he emphasizes. <\/p>\n\n

With this order, Carri\u00f3n adds, the regime also deprived the families not only of the possibility of an independent investigation but also of their right to say a final goodbye. \u201cThe family was stripped even of that special, intimate moment,\u201d he laments. <\/p>\n\n

The cruelty in these cases, the human rights defender explains, extends from arbitrary detention and enforced disappearance\u2014where torture is presumed\u2014to the denial of the funeral ritual, an act he describes as \u201cinhuman.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

IML covers up the facts<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n

In covering up the deaths of Alonso and C\u00e1rdenas, the Institute of Legal Medicine (IML) played a central role, the human rights defender warns. He questions the institution, which instead of fulfilling its role of clarifying the causes of death, ensured that the bodies were buried quickly and under the custody of the National Police. <\/p>\n\n

\u201cThe Institute of Legal Medicine participates in making the so-called fateful call and makes sure, together with the police, that the burial happens directly,\u201d Carri\u00f3n emphasizes. <\/p>\n\n

The human rights defender adds that this is not the first time the IML has covered up the crimes of the dictatorship<\/a>. He recalls that in 2018, when protests in Nicaragua were at their peak, the institution forced families of victims to sign a document relinquishing any independent investigation in exchange for the delivery of their relatives\u2019 bodies.<\/a> <\/p>\n\n

Lawyer and human rights professor Uriel Pineda reinforces this perspective from a legal standpoint. \u201cAn expedited burial that obstructs any investigation into the causes of death is outrageous and contrary to the State\u2019s obligations to clarify the circumstances,\u201d he explains. <\/p>\n\n

Pineda emphasizes that, according to international standards such as the Minnesota Protoco<\/a>l, any death in state custody must be investigated under a \u201cpresumption of unlawful death,\u201d since the State has a duty to protect people deprived of their liberty, who depend entirely on it for food, health, and safety. <\/p>\n\n

State responsibility and guaranteed impunity<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n

Pineda outlines three levels of responsibility the State could bear in the deaths of Alonso and C\u00e1rdenas, even if \u201cnatural death\u201d were argued:<\/p>\n\n