Washington, D.C., 25 July 2025. The hearing was attended by representatives of the Legal Defence Unit, Registry and Memory Unit for Nicaragua (AUDJUDRNIC), Urnas Abiertas, the Autonomous Women’s Movement (Movimiento Autónomo de Mujeres-MAM), the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), the Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Instituto sobre Raza, Igualdad y Derechos Humanos or Raza e Igualdad), and private individuals, Claudia Vargas, widow of political analyst Roberto Samcam, Sadie Rivas, daughter of political prisoner Aníbal Martín Rivas, and Tininiska Rivera, daughter of indigenous leader Brooklyn Rivera. The organization and the private individuals jointly explained how the Ortega-Murillo regime has made its system of repression more sophisticated through the use of more targeted cross-border persecution methods that have had staggering results in Nicaragua and beyond its borders.
"We note with deep concern that more than seven years after the start of the crisis, serious human rights violations and crimes against humanity continue. The repression has not ceased: it has been transformed and expanded beyond the border where it is affecting persons seeking asylum", said Carlos Quesada, Executive Director of Race and Equality.
Quesada said that among the new methods of repression that have been identified are cross-border persecution or transnational repression, migration repression, targeted imprisonment, in addition to an increase in cases of enforced disappearance.
With regard to cross-border persecution or transnational repression, Azahalea Solís, from MAM, referred to the passing of laws used by the Nicaraguan regime to try to confer legality to the methods used to breach the human rights of Nicaraguans living abroad. Law No. 1145 is among them. It arbitrarily deprives Nicaraguan nationals of citizenship. Law No. 1216 modifies the Criminal Code and extends Nicaragua’s criminal jurisdictional competence to acts committed by Nicaraguans or foreigners abroad and is aimed at repeatedly persecuting opponents or those perceived as such.
Solís denounced the government’s efforts to control and intimidate Nicaraguans living in exile which include threats and attacks on their family members in Nicaragua and the murder of individuals abroad by Nicaraguan agents. Solís noted that there are six documented cases, three in Honduras and three in Costa Rica. The most recent case involved political analyst Roberto Samcam, who was killed in San José on 19 June.
Claudia Vargas, the widow of Roberto Samcam, explained that the Costa Rican Public Prosecutor’s Office indicated that her husband’s murder was no ordinary crime and acknowledged the complexity of the case, including evidence pointing to possible premeditation. "This observation means we need to look further. We need to investigate not only the perpetrators, but also those who ordered, financed, and facilitated the assassination", she said.
Natalia Yaya, FIDH Programme Officer Americas Desk, stated that one of the most severe forms of repression perpetrated by the Ortega-Murillo regime in recent years, and unprecedented in the region, is the arbitrary denaturalisation of Nicaraguan citizens, which today has serious repercussions on the human rights of those affected. Yaya specified that since 2023, no fewer than 450 people have been affected by denaturalisation and have been left in a situation of "civil death". "The authorities removed them from all Nicaraguan registers and decreed the loss of their civil, political, social, and property rights; they are also banned from returning to their country", Yaya said.
Olga Valle of Urnas Abiertas, added information on de facto statelessness, pointing out that the regime has institutionalised mechanisms to arbitrarily deprive people of their nationality, through court rulings, administrative measures such as refusing to issue or renew passports and identity documents, either in Nicaragua or abroad. The lack of documentation, she said, leaves people unprotected. Valle also pointed out the dramatic increase in people being denied entry to Nicaragua, even if they are not connected to opposition networks or organisations. She stated that up until March 2025, the United Nations Group of Experts had documented 259 cases of Nicaraguans denied entry into the country, and that there is significant underreporting because of the fear experienced by the individuals concerned.
"The arrests target a few people with specific profiles: indigenous leaders and community members, journalists, people of faith, activists, members of political parties, and increasingly former members of the military [...] there are 10 people who have been imprisoned since before 2018", denounced Claudia Pineda of AUDJUDRNIC, who raised the issue of arbitrary arrests and forced disappearances, specifying that "54 people are reported to have been detained, including 7 women, 18 older adults, 14 disappeared persons, and 19 unconvicted individuals", according to the registry of the Mechanism for the Recognition of Political Prisoners. Pineda added that since September 2023, long-term enforced disappearances have intensified, and that at least 14 people on the Mechanism’s official register lists five women, seven elderly persons, two journalists, three former members of the military, political leaders, and activists, among them are Brooklyn Rivera, Víctor Boitano, Angélica Chavarría, Eveling Matus, Fabiola Tercero, and Eddy Gonzalez, all of whom have been missing for a year or longer.
Sadie Rivas, daughter of Aníbal Rivas Reed, reported that since 17 May, her father had been the victim of enforced disappearance for 42 days. During this time he was held incommunicado. Even though they have been allowed a single visit—during which they learned that he had been sentenced to 50 years in prison for "treason"—the family continues to fear for his life, because of the suffering he has endured and his chronic illnesses.
Tininiska Rivera, daughter of Indigenous leader Brooklyn Rivera, denounced her father’s forced disappearance as part of a systematic strategy executed by the regime to silence Indigenous leaders who defend the land, autonomy, and the collective rights of Indigenous peoples.
Adolfo Lara, from Raza e Igualdad, emphasised that, given the new methods of repression, the persistence of other widely documented forms of repression, and the impunity with which crimes against humanity continue to be committed, it is essential that the international community hold the regime to account and force it to respect the international obligations it has ratified. Lara called on the IACHR to strengthen its monitoring, denounce the transnational repression perpetrated by the Nicaraguan regime, and provide support to states that provide asylum to individuals with the aim of providing protection and access to rights, recognise the systematic pattern of denaturalisation, and to demand the release of all political prisoners, and elucidate the enforced disappearances.
During the hearing, Ariela Peralta, a member of the UN Group of Human Rights Experts on Nicaragua (GHREN) presented the findings contained in their latest report (en inglés). The report raises the alarm about the escalation of transnational repression and its serious repercussions for those affected, on which they will be presenting report to the United Nations in September.
The President of the IACHR, Commissioner José Luis Caballero, thanked the victims for their testimonies, noting that the situation has worsened with the 2025 reform. Commissioner Arif Bulkan, Rapporteur for Nicaragua, lamented the hypocrisy of those who continue to do business with the Goverment of Nicaragua while condemning such regimes. Commissioner Bulkan encouraged civil society to continue its documentation and reporting work. The other commissioners, after expressing their solidarity and gratitude for the testimonies of the three family members present, condemned the serious actions of the Nicaraguan regime, the worsening of the human rights situation they have been monitoring, and their willingness to seek solutions together with other States for the serious situation of Nicaraguans abroad. They announced that they will soon publish a report on the situation of the Indigenous peoples living on Nicaragua’s Caribbean coast.
We, the organisations that participated in the hearing, reaffirm our commitment to the victims of state repression and will continue to denounce human rights violations committed under the Ortega-Murillo regime before international protection mechanisms.