The Latin American Report # 587

Several news stories related to Nicaragua are resonating at the time, confirming the rare balance we have discussed here on other occasions: a lot of reasonable criticism regarding the rule of law and democracy in general, but, on the other hand, an economy that is buoyant to a certain extent. Regarding the first issue, there has been significant discussion recently about the concerning deaths of opponents in the prisons of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo, who now serve as co-presidents.

"This week, the Nicaraguan regime has crossed an intolerable threshold. Two individuals deprived of liberty, considered disappeared by their families, have been handed over dead by the State," three human rights organizations denounced in a joint statement. The bodies of opponents Mauricio Alonso and Carlos Cárdenas, who had been imprisoned in the last thirty days, were handed over to their relatives. "Both cases confirm what we have been denouncing: the Ortega-Murillo regime's prisons have become waiting rooms for death," the organizations alerted, associating what is happening to the existence of a "systematic policy of persecution, forced disappearance, and silent extermination."

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It is alleged that 33 dissidents are currently in a situation of forced disappearance, with their relatives completely unaware of their fate. "Nicaraguan prisons operate as extermination centers for citizens sentenced for thinking differently. The systematic pattern of these crimes demonstrates a deliberate strategy of state terror to silence all democratic opposition," claimed other opposition organizations gathered in the Unity Platform for Democracy, which advocate for the conduct of a transparent international investigation into the deaths that have occurred so far.

Relatives of the (political) prisoners protested this Sunday to demand their release. "They were taken alive, we want them back alive!," they stressed.

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The state of economy

However, beyond these very negative dynamics in terms of human rights, the national economic activity shows good signs. For example, the trade deficit decreased by over 16% in the first half of the current year after a representative increase in exports. Thus, the accumulated deficit in the first semester was just over 1 billion dollars, whereas it had been about 1.4 billion in the first half of 2024.

By the end of last June, total exports of merchandise and free trade zone goods climbed over 12% compared to the same period last year, driven primarily by good performance in the agricultural sector and the mining industry. In the first case, according to EFE, coffee and live cattle exporters have benefited the most from favorable price variations in the international market. Finally, the monetary authority reported that the Monthly Index of Economic Activity reflected a growth of 5.3% in June.

In a interesting fact, we have that Washington's rethoric towards Managua is harsh, and so Foggy Bottom advances or oversee some regime-change or "democracy programs" there. But, unlike in the cases of Cuba and Venezuela, the United States don´t enforce severe and comprehensive sanctions against its economy as a pressure measure.