Caribbean & Central America - September 2021

While much attention has been focussed on the crackdown by the Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional (FSLN) government led by President Daniel Ortega on its political opponents ahead of the 7 November general election, human rights groups have also decried repression targeting those critical of the government’s handling of the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic. On 28 July Nicaragua’s legislature shuttered 24 NGOs mainly operating in the medical field for failing to comply with legislation authorising NGOs to operate in the country.

Those affected by the national assembly’s vote include Nicaragua’s national associations of pneumology (Anine) and diabetology (Anidiab) and association of infectious diseases, among others, which have reportedly been critical of the government’s handling of the pandemic. The FSLN administration faced widespread condemnation over its response to the health emergency at the start for failing to impose strict measures to stop the spread of the virus, such as a nationwide quarantine, curfews, and the closure of educational establishments and non-essential businesses [SSR-20-08].

The government was also criticised for the lack of transparency surrounding information regarding the health situation, which has been an ongoing complaint of local medical associations and civil society groups. A report dated 13 August by Observatorio Ciudadano Covid-19, a collaborative civil society group set up in March 2020 to monitor the outbreak in Nicaragua, tallies 20,636 cases of Covid-19 and 3,807 fatalities between 20 March 2020 and 11 August 2021, while it cites official government data putting these figures at 10,432 and 197 respectively. As of 13 August for example, neighbouring Costa Rica had officially registered 426,474 cases and 5,199 deaths from Covid-19.

These parallel narratives and criticism of the government’s lack of transparent data would seem to have produced a backlash by the state. A statement issued on 28 July by the Inter American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) and its Special Rapporteurship on Economic, Social, Cultural and Environmental rights (Redesca) condemned “acts of harassment and intimidation against medical workers in Nicaragua” and urged “the state to immediately cease these actions”. It underlines public statements against health professionals made by high-ranking authorities within the executive branch which have been interpreted as a threat by the medical and health sector. For example a 7 July statement from the office of the vice presidency warned that medical organisations that issue “fake news” are “fake doctors making fake predictions” and that they should bear in mind that “in this life, you pay for everything.” The statement also singles out reports of acts of persecution and harassment perpetrated by state agents against members of the Observatorio Ciudadano Covid-19 as well as Unidad Médica Nicaragüense (UMN) and Comité Científico Interdisciplinario, both groups of doctors and medical experts which have been critical of the government response. The statement highlights for example that in response to the increase in surveillance and harassment of members of the UMN and its board of directors, the board decided to close its headquarters and continue providing care via telemedicine.

The IACHR/Redesca statement also points out that this is not the first time that the Ortega administration has targeted health workers (see sidebar) and adds that so far 28 new dismissals of medical personnel had been registered in relation to complaints due to the lack of measures taken by the state in relation to the pandemic, and counts at least five professionals who had opted to leave the country.

• Previous reprisals against health workers

The IACHR/Redesca statement notes that during the 2018 crackdown on dissent, the Ortega government “fired at least 400 doctors, nurses, and other health workers from several public hospitals in apparent retaliation for providing care to victims of violence”.