Caribbean & Central America - November 2014 (ISSN 1741-4458)

Two of Nicaragua’s most senior police officers retired on 27 October, to be replaced by two officials considered to be close allies of the administration of President Daniel Ortega. Juan Ramón Grádiz, the inspector general of Nicaragua’s national police (PNN) and Javier Maynard, the deputy director will stand down. Two chief commissioners will take their places.

Pablo Emilio Avalos Sandoval, who will take over as inspector-general, was in charge when the police turned a blind eye to attacks by a group of government-sympathising thugs on the Occupy #INSS movement in June 2013, a protest in support of pensioners’ rights. Elizabeth Rodríguez, the new deputy director, participated in Ortega’s illegal re-election campaign in 2009. Gonzalo Carrión, an advisor to the Centro Nicaragüense de Derechos Humanos (Cenidh), questioned how Avalos could be given the job, given his track record of allowing innocent protesters to be attacked.

Independence under scrutiny

PNN chief Aminta Granera has been conducting a shake-up of the police force since the beginning of October when 32 police commissioners resigned, just a few months after Ortega increased the number of senior police officers. Among those who benefited from the changes were Ortega’s former personal physician, Julio Paladino, who was made a commissioner general. The chief of the presidential bodyguard unit, Mark Acuña, was also promoted.

Given the mounting protests over Nicaragua’s ‘Gran Canal’ project (see sidebar), the handling of public demonstrations will be a key test of the PNN’s capabilities. Police independence most recently came under scrutiny over the PNN’s alleged failure to respect human right in the investigations conducted into the July armed attacks on two buses carrying supporters of the ruling Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional (FSLN) [RC-14-09].

Opposition groups have accused the government of using the investigation into the attackers as an excuse for a witch-hunt against political opponents. Among those who have questioned the police’s impartiality in the wake of the investigation are Nicaragua’s episcopal conference (CEN); the main parliamentary opposition party, Partido Liberal Independiente (PLI); as well as prominent human rights groups like the Comisión Permanente de Derechos Humanos (CPDH) and Cenidh.

• Protests against ‘Gran Canal’ continue

Since last month there have been nine demonstrations against the ‘Gran Canal’ inter-oceanic project awarded to Hong Kong-based HKND Group, which local residents fear will result in evictions and expropriations, affect their water supply and damage the environment. The most recent protests took place on 24 October on Ometepe island.