On 20 February Nicaragua’s national police (PNN) issued a statement denying that an armed attack took place four days earlier against the Mískitu indigenous community carried out by settlers from other regions of Nicaragua known as ‘colonos’, who invade indigenous land for illegal logging and cattle-raising.
Analysis:
The PNN’s announcement comes despite the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) denouncing that a 14-year-old girl had been shot in the face in the indigenous Wangky Twi Tasba Raya territory, Waspam municipality, in Nicaragua's North Atlantic Autonomous Region (Raan). This followed a deadly attack which took place less than a month earlier in the Raan, also attributed to colonos. The PNN’s response is likely to attract further international concerns and comes as it has already faced major criticism for its role in the deadly crackdown which the government led by President Daniel Ortega has been carrying out on its political opponents since April 2018.
- In a statement the PNN said that following an investigation, it concluded that there was no attack by colonos and the girl’s injury was sustained as a result of an accident.
- The government has already faced international condemnation from both the OHCHR and IACHR for the previous attack by colonos which took place on 29 January on the indigenous Mayagna community in the Bosawás biosphere reserve, which left six dead and ten missing. On 7 February an OHCHR spokesperson issued a statement expressing concern at the “repeated attacks against indigenous people in Nicaragua, the failure to protect their rights and impunity of crimes committed against them”.
- Noting that “most of the attacks have been perpetrated by colonos”, the OHCHR cites figures from a local human rights NGO Centro por la Justicia y los Derechos Humanos de la Costa Atlántica de Nicaragua (Cejudhcan) which show that since 2015, some 40 indigenous people have been murdered, 47 injured, 44 kidnapped and four remain missing in cases related to the invasion of land.
Looking Ahead: Also indicative of ongoing general political violence, yesterday the opposition Ciudadanos por la Libertad (CXL) grouping announced that one of its members, José Benito López Méndez, had been shot dead in the Raan and is calling on the police to investigate.
