Nicaragua: Rights experts uncover state corruption fueling repression and spying on exiles
The report to the Human Rights Council called on the government, led by partners in marriage and politics, Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo, to ensure accountability, restore civil space and take meaningful action to guarantee the rights of all Nicaraguans – including those in exile.
“Repression and institutional corruption have become the method of governance in Nicaragua under the control of the Ortega-Murillo family,” said Jan-Michael Simon, president of the Group of Independent Human Rights Experts.
“Political persecution is financed by the state, carried out through its institutions and extended across borders to ensure that no one – absolutely no one – stands in the way of the regime.”
‘Structured and corruptly financed’
Based on dozens of interviews and extensive documentary evidence, the report documents how since 2018, government funding earmarked for social assistance, cleanup projects and operational expenses has been used to finance violent security operations, including the 2018 crackdown on nationwide protests.
“The misuse and misappropriation of public funds has directly contributed to the perpetration of serious human rights violations,” said Reed Brody, a member of the Council for Human Rights-designated expert body.
“The repression in Nicaragua is not improvised – it is structured and corruptly financed,” he added.
Repression across borders
The report details a vast transnational surveillance and intelligence architecture used to monitor, intimidate and attack hundreds of thousands of Nicaraguans living abroad.
The government has arbitrarily stripped 452 Nicaraguans of their nationality, exiled thousands by refusing to renew or provide necessary documents, and denied many entry to Nicaragua.
Others have faced surveillance, intimidation, smear campaigns, confiscation of property and reprisals against family members back home.
“The co-presidents have built an apparatus that hunts down dissent wherever they are…No one is beyond the reach of this repressive regime,” Mr Brody told reporters at the Human Rights Council press conference on Tuesday.
At least a dozen cases of murder or attempted murder of exiled critics have been reportedincluding the June 2025 assassination in Costa Rica of retired army major and government critic Roberto Samcam.
‘Crimes against humanity’
The report documents a multi-layered intelligence structure integrating the military, police, migration authorities, telecommunications regulators and diplomatic missions.
Meanwhile, digital surveillance and intimidation, hacking and doxing have all been used to silence critics.
“Diplomatic and consular structures have been deployed to track, monitor and intimidate exiled Nicaraguans,” said Ariela Peralta of the independent expert body.
Another concern is gender rights violations that are “part of a deliberate repressive strategy aimed at punishing women and feminist movements for their long-standing leadership as autonomous political actors,” Peralta said.
The report reiterated its position previous findings that the violations committed since 2018 amount prima facie to crimes against humanity.
‘Urgent’ international accountability
Now that Nicaragua has ceased cooperation with the Human Rights Council and withdrawn from several UN bodies, the Group of Experts emphasized that ‘International accountability is more urgent than ever”.
The independent UN experts called on member states to mobilize a comprehensive framework of accountability – encompassing universal jurisdiction, targeted sanctions and treaty-based litigation – while ensuring robust protection for the exiled population.
