11 de noviembre 2024
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The regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo has committed “serious human rights violations and abuses” against students, professors, academic administrators, and other university staff. Some of these violations constitute, in turn, “crimes against humanity, including murder, imprisonment, torture, deportation, and politically motivated persecution,” according to a report by the Group of Human Rights Experts on Nicaragua (GHREN).
In its report, Human Rights Violations and Abuses of Education, Academic Freedom, and Other Fundamental Rights Against Students, Faculty, Academic Administrators, and University Staff, GHREN assigns individual responsibility to Ortega and Murillo for these crimes and highlights their use of the state apparatus to silence the academic community.
The incidents documented by the Group of Experts are said to have occurred between 2018 and 2024 as part of the Ortega-Murillo regime’s strategy of repression. These human rights violations have prevented students from continuing their studies, “undermining the contribution of future generations to the country’s development.”
“The university sector in Nicaragua no longer has independent institutions,” the report emphasizes.
These are some of the crimes committed by the Ortega-Murillo regime against the university community, as identified by GHREN.
Crimes Against Humanity
The regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo has committed “serious human rights violations and abuses” against students, professors, academic administrators, and other university staff. Some of these violations constitute, in turn, “crimes against humanity, including murder, imprisonment, torture, deportation, and politically motivated persecution,” according to a report by the Group of Human Rights Experts on Nicaragua (GHREN).
In its report, Human Rights Violations and Abuses of Education, Academic Freedom, and Other Fundamental Rights Against Students, Faculty, Academic Administrators, and University Staff, GHREN assigns individual responsibility to Ortega and Murillo for these crimes and highlights their use of the state apparatus to silence the academic community.
The incidents documented by the Group of Experts are said to have occurred between 2018 and 2024 as part of the Ortega-Murillo regime’s strategy of repression. These human rights violations have prevented students from continuing their studies, “undermining the contribution of future generations to the country’s development.”
“The university sector in Nicaragua no longer has independent institutions,” the report emphasizes.
These are some of the crimes committed by the Ortega-Murillo regime against the university community, as identified by GHREN.
Crimes Against Humanity
15 Students Killed
At least 15 university students were killed in Nicaragua between April 18 and October 1, 2018, during a period of social protests. GHREN reports that these victims were civilians who were either participating in demonstrations, roadblocks, barricades, and university occupations, were near protest areas, or were trying to escape from the National Police and pro-government armed groups.
The Group concludes that these deaths resulted from actions by the police and pro-government armed groups, who used lethal force in an arbitrary, deliberate, and systematic way. The perpetrators intended to kill the victims or, at the very least, inflict serious bodily harm, with reasonable awareness that these actions could lead to death.
Given the identity of the victims, along with the timing and circumstances of the killings, “the Group has reasonable grounds to believe that these extrajudicial executions constitute the crime of murder as a crime against humanity,” the report states.
52 Students and Two Professors Imprisoned
GHREN also documented the arbitrary detention of 52 students and two professors, who faced interrogations, unfair trials, and prison sentences for their activism. Fourteen of the student leaders and the two professors were later released and expelled to the United States on February 9, 2023, along with 208 other opposition members.
The Expert Group concluded that the circumstances of these arrests and the prolonged isolation of students, professors, and other university staff were arbitrary.
These detentions are part of the broader, systematic crackdown in Nicaragua since April 2018, which has been classified as a crime against humanity.
Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment
The Expert Group documented numerous abusive practices in the National Police and National Penitentiary facilities against students and professors. These included lengthy interrogations, beatings and threats, forced nudity, restrictions on communicating with other detainees, insufficient food (sometimes in smaller portions than those given to common prisoners), water and electricity cuts in cells, and limited access to proper medical care.
Some student leaders, such as Kevin Solís, John Cerna, Lesther Alemán, Max Jerez, and Yubrank Suazo, were subjected to illegal practices likely amounting to torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment. They endured prolonged or indefinite solitary confinement, with no meaningful human contact within the prison or the outside world, effectively trapped in what the report describes as a “torture environment.”
The Expert Group determined that these acts by the National Police and National Penitentiary System agents were deliberate, and aimed at inflicting severe physical or mental suffering. Officials involved acted intending to extract information, punish, intimidate, or coerce the victims or to discriminate against them for opposing the government.
14 Students Deported
On February 9, 2023, 222 people were released from prison and expelled to the United States; among them were at least 14 students and two professors. They were forced to sign documents stating they were leaving the country voluntarily, but the Expert Group found that these signatures were obtained under duress, voiding any true consent. Refusing to sign would have meant continued detention in inhumane and degrading conditions, which in some cases amounted to torture.
The victims were also arbitrarily stripped of their citizenship in a discriminatory manner, violating due process and leaving them stateless. The Group determined there were no legal grounds for these expulsions by Nicaraguan authorities, rendering them baseless under international law.
The students and professors “were expelled without legal justification, and the perpetrators intended to remove these individuals from Nicaragua. This was a clear violation of the victims’ fundamental right to remain in their own country, resulting in the unlawful expulsion of this segment of Nicaragua’s population,” the report states.
Persecution
The Expert Group has reasonable grounds to believe that the crimes against humanity of murder, imprisonment, torture, and deportation documented in this report were part of a politically discriminatory campaign orchestrated at the highest levels of government against a segment of the Nicaraguan population, amounting to the crime against humanity of persecution.
The victims were targeted due to their identities as part of a systematic effort to silence any individuals or dismantle civic and political organizations that hold views contrary to or critical of the government.
“Murder, imprisonment, torture, and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment, deportation, and arbitrary stripping of nationality, when carried out as part of a widespread and systematic attack on the civilian population, may constitute the crime against humanity of persecution,” GHREN emphasized.
Violations of the Right to Education
37 Universities Shut Down
The Ortega-Murillo regime has pursued systematic control over universities through measures that include the arbitrary closure of most private institutions, legislative reforms, and the direct political takeover of the National University Council (CNU) and the National Council for Evaluation and Accreditation (CNEA).
Between December 2021 and February 2024, 37 universities and higher education institutions had their legal status revoked. Many of these universities had become hubs for student mobilization during the 2018 protests, providing refuge from police repression. Following the shutdowns, authorities seized their bank accounts, properties, and other assets.
Dismantling University Autonomy
Reforms to education and university autonomy laws in March 2022 and November 2023 have further undermined institutional independence. The changes abolished the National Council of Rectors, granted the CNU control over appointing university leaders, and eliminated deans, faculties, and faculty councils.
The Expert Group concluded that the mass, arbitrary closures were “a tool and pattern of repression intended to silence the voices and critical thinking of students, professors, academic leaders, and other university staff.” The legislative changes, motivated by political interests, were seen as an assault on university autonomy, incompatible with the right to education and academic freedom.
Expulsions from Universities
Regime-aligned university authorities have used expulsion as a punishment for students who participated in the 2018 protests. According to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), over 150 students were arbitrarily expelled from universities in Nicaragua between 2018 and 2022.
Several students interviewed by GHREN reported that these expulsions were executed without due process or any right to appeal. In other cases, students faced informal expulsion, where they were denied official notification and given no recourse.
GHREN determined that the Nicaraguan State enabled these expulsions systematically, without legal recourse, as a way to silence critical voices and punish students for exercising their rights to freedom of opinion, expression, thought, and peaceful assembly.
Political Indoctrination and Control within Universities
Since April 2018, the regime has imposed a system of political control, harassment, and intimidation within both public and private universities, promoting Sandinista party propaganda on campuses.
Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) flags fly on university campuses, and government propaganda posters are common. University students are required to observe official Sandinista historical dates and participate in official party events.
The Expert Group documented that students applying for scholarships must submit a letter to Ortega, praising his government. Introductory courses for new students are reportedly dedicated to FSLN history. In some cases, professors were either required to contribute to the indoctrination of students or participated voluntarily.
Denial of Diplomas and Apostilles
Repression has extended to the arbitrary withholding of diplomas and academic records, or, as some students allege, the destruction of these records. This discriminatory practice affected both expelled students and those impacted by university closures.
The Expert Group reported that hundreds of students from shuttered universities were unable to obtain their diplomas or academic records, which hindered them from continuing their studies in other institutions, despite government promises of educational continuity.
In many cases reported to the Group, students were compelled to remain in state universities that replaced the closed institutions since “the State prohibits transfers to other universities. If they leave and try to enroll elsewhere, they are not accepted.”
In other cases, students were unable to authenticate their degrees from the closed universities, which prevented them from validating their credentials in other countries and pursuing further studies.
Violations of Labor Rights
Unjustified Dismissals
The closure of most private universities has cost thousands of professors, administrators, and other university staff their jobs. The shutdown of the Universidad de Occidente (UDO), the Martin Luther King Evangelical University, and the Central American University (UCA) alone left around 1,200 people unemployed, according to GHREN.
The Expert Group noted that the labor rights of dismissed employees were violated, as they were denied severance pay, and, in some cases, pensions. Professors opposed to the government now face barriers to working in Nicaraguan universities, with some dismissed following detention due to their support for the 2018 student movement.
This article was published in Spanish in Confidencial and translated by our staff. To get the most relevant news from our English coverage delivered straight to your inbox, subscribe to The Dispatch.
