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Justice Marvin Aguilar’s Downfall Cements Rosario Murillo’s Grip on Nicaragua’s Supreme Court

The new Supreme Court justices will be imposed by the vice president. “Everyone is afraid. No one wants to make decisions,” says a court source

Magistrate Marvin Aguilar and Brenda Rocha

Magistrate Marvin Aguilar—along with the president of the Electoral Branch, Brenda Rocha (right)—attends the event marking the 45th anniversary of the Police, on October 14, 2024, one of its last public activities. // Photo: CCC

Redacción Confidencial

5 de febrero 2025

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The de facto dismissal of Supreme Court Justice Marvin Aguilar, who served as “acting president” of Nicaragua's Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ), is an indicator of the “absolute power” that Vice President Rosario Murillo will wield after the Sandinista legislature assigned her the position of co-president of Nicaragua, according to two jurists consulted by CONFIDENCIAL.

Aguilar's departure signals the consolidation of Rosario Murillo's power in the Supreme Court of Justice, and the absolute control she will have over the appointment of [judges], in accordance with the constitutional reforms they made,” said constitutional lawyer Azahálea Solís.

Solís added that Marvin Aguilar had “fulfilled the role they assigned him, which was to carry out the entire purge [in the CSJ], starting with the removal of Alba Luz Ramos in 2023.”

Along with Aguilar, a number of magistrates and “executioner” judges who were under his command were also removed from the Court, and “now other executioners are coming to replace them,” said Solis.


Following Aguilar's departure, the following dismissals were also announced: President of the Court of Appeals of Managua Ernesto Rodríguez, Judge Luden Martín Quiroz of the Ninth Criminal Trial District Court of Managua, Judge Félix Ernesto Salmerón of the Fifth Criminal Trial District Court, Judge Róger Sánchez of the First Criminal District for Adolescents and Violence in Managua, and Aleyda Irías, Aguilar's niece and Second District Judge Specializing in Violence.

A source linked to the CSJ stated that “Aguilar's dismissal was not expected,” as he had been leading the Court for over a year.

“There is a total paralysis in the Judicial Branch, as nobody wants to make decisions or sign anything, even administrative matters, much less sentences. Everyone is very afraid,” said the source, who commented that it is “probable that Justice Juana Méndez will be reelected and will become the head” of the Court.

Lawyer and former Judicial Branch official, Yader Morazán, explained that it is clear that the CSJ magistrates “[have been] dismissed” because “they were deprived of their 4% budgets and administrative roles.” 

Morazán pointed out that “they are no longer managing the Judicial Branch from the point of view of human resources or financial resources. Who's managing that is the administrative secretary general, Róger Domínguez.”

“For the dictatorship, no one is indispensable”

For lawyer and political activist Juan Diego Barberena, the dismissal of these “political chips” within the CSJ is proof that “despite their many ‘merits’ of having criminalized the fundamental rights of Nicaraguans, they are still disposable. They fulfill a function, a mission, then they are set aside, purged and excluded.”

Morazán said that the dismissed judges “are leaving Nicaraguan government positions as people sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department based on charges of crimes against humanity, but the dictatorship doesn't care about that.”

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“The message is that for the dictatorship, no one is indispensable. It doesn't matter if  they hold a high position within the structures of repression,” added Morazán.

The assistant of Marvin Aguilar, Nadezhda Obando Cerna, a niece of retired colonel and former head of state security Lenín Cerna, was also dismissed. The Supreme Court justice and his assistant were taken and interrogated at the Judicial Auxiliary Unit, known as “El Chipote,” in the third week of January 2025.

Obando Cerna was kept in detention, while Marvin Aguilar was sent home and placed under de facto “house arrest,” the same measure applied to hundreds of citizens in Nicaragua.

New judges loyal to Rosario Murillo

Legal analysts anticipate that after the publication of the new Constitution in the Official Gazette –which will make official the promotion of Rosario Murillo to “co-president” of Nicaragua without her having been elected to that position– there will be reforms to the Organic Law of the Judiciary, including the appointment of new judges.

According to the reforms already approved in the second legislature, the Supreme Court will go from having 16 magistrates to nine, of which five must be women. “I think Rosario is going to put in people totally loyal to her –people who aren't Daniel's, Lenín's, or Bayardo Arce's people. She may look at some appellate judges. They have thought of transferring some National Assembly representatives, ministers or vice ministers and legal advisors,” said the source linked to the Judicial Branch. 

Rosario Murillo “needs to guarantee that of the nine, at least six are totally hers. And as for the liberals, they will surely appoint one,” said the source. “The new Court is probably going to be left with eight Sandinistas and one Liberal.”  

Solís predicted that “some officials may be brought back, but obviously they will be people who will have to completely submit to the power of the Ortega-Murillo family.”

Barberena insisted on the importance of being aware of who “is going to relieve the Supreme Court justices, as well as the judges at other levels, such as the Court of Appeals of Managua… because it is a reflection of the judicialization of politics, and the greatest expression of the repressive exercise of state power.”

The dismissals of judges will end next week, the Judicial Branch source said.


*Azahálea Solís and Juan Diego Barberena participated in a panel on the program Esta Semana, which was broadcast on CONFIDENCIAL's YouTube channel on February 2, 2025.

This article was originally published in Spanish by 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.

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Redacción Confidencial

Redacción Confidencial

Confidencial es un diario digital nicaragüense, de formato multimedia, fundado por Carlos F. Chamorro en junio de 1996. Inició como un semanario impreso y hoy es un medio de referencia regional con información, análisis, entrevistas, perfiles, reportajes e investigaciones sobre Nicaragua, informando desde el exilio por la persecución política de la dictadura de Daniel Ortega y Rosario Murillo.

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