UN accuses Nicaragua of crimes against humanity

Oliver Conway (0:00)

This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service.

Hello, I'm Oliver Conway. We're recording this at 14 Hours GMT on Tuesday the 22nd of September. A UN report accuses the Nicaraguan authorities of systematically attacking civilians. Scientists say the current Super El Nino is approaching record-breaking levels weeks before its peak. And new research suggests baby girls are more sociable than boys.

Reagan Morris (0:28)

Also in this podcast, it looks like it's from a galaxy far, far away. But the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art is right here on earth.

Oliver Conway (0:36)

George Lucas' art collection goes on display and…

Judith Neeson (0:40)

Given the amount of images on tiles, on drawings, on prints, in this painting, you can imagine that the game of golf, as we know it nowadays, it started out in the Netherlands.

Oliver Conway (0:50)

Who really invented the game of golf?

Nicaragua had a troubled history in the 20th century, with decades of dictatorship followed by the US-backed Contra War. That ended in 1990, but UN experts say crimes are being committed once again against civilians in Nicaragua. The UN report accuses the authorities of disappearances, torture and arbitrary detention. In July, Nicaragua's long-term ruler, Daniel Ortega, a former revolutionary leader, banned elections. I heard more from our Global Affairs reporter, Mimi Swabey.

Mimi Swabey (1:27)

This new report by UN experts accuses Nicaraguan, the state institution, the authorities of committing crimes against humanity to crush any dissent in the country and essentially control the population. They say authorities have coordinated, enforced disappearances, torture, and arbitrary detentions of any political opponents, all being part of this widespread and very systemic crackdown on civilians. It went on to say that since 2023, the authorities have shifted towards a long term use of these enforced disappearances and nationwide police raids aimed at basically eliminating any remaining pockets of dissent in the country and solidifying the absolute power that President Daniel Ortega has shared with his co-president, his wife, Rosario Murillo. So they have expanded these raids to new targets to include church members, indigenous leaders and former state as well as military officials. And this is on top of the verified disappearances the UN experts have confirmed since 2018, being more than 160 And that is the date, a very significant date in Nicaragua, is when a wave of anti-government protests rippled across the country, the largest in years. That left more than 300 people dead and led to a mass exodus in the country as well of Nicaraguans.

Oliver Conway (2:43)

Now, are we seeing a return of the dirty war, at least the tactics seen then, because Daniel Ortega was in power, left-wing leader, when his government was destabilised by the US-backed contras?

Mimi Swabey (2:55)

We're definitely seeing a iron fist get even stronger. Daniel Ortega in July came out and said, there will no longer be elections in the country, as he put it, to stop the opposition from seizing the government again. In September, we then saw the Congress pass a constitutional reform, which essentially would ban the opposition parties from taking part in that election. Again, solidifying the fact that he is going to maintain himself in power as long as he can. This, unsurprisingly, has received a lot of criticism from the wider region as well as global leaders.

The authoritarian leader, though, is also being accused by this report, as well as other organizations of essentially exercising centralized control over the very institutions, the police, the courts, the prisons, that are meant to protect people from abuse. So, he not only has concrete control over the government, but over the whole country, according to reports. And is being blamed for the deaths of custody of at least eight people since 2018, who were detained on political grounds. And we've heard again in this report how dire the situation is in prisons with the lack of health care and gender-based violence being rife among women too.

Oliver Conway (4:04)

And why now? He's been in power for a long time. Is there any opposition to his rule?

Mimi Swabey (4:09)

There is very little opposition. He has cut off ties with the US. US is a long-time foe, not cut off ties, but he's got distanced himself even further. Again, with this move in September, this congressional reform, again, distancing himself from that backing. He's leaning towards China as a stronger ally, but on the ground, he's been in power for nearly 20 years. There's very little opposition in the country. The majority have been exiled. Any Nicaraguan leaders or politicians, filmmakers, figures in public life who I speak to are routinely outside the country due to fear of oppression and oppression for their families in the country if they have any left there.