This is the translation of a new law approved on Dec 21, 2020 , which is being interpreted by human rights organizations and the Secretary General of the OAS as designed to prevent current opposition leaders from running for public office in the upcoming elections of Nov 2021. The text of the law follows.
THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF NICARAGUA
Informs its people that:
THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF THE REPUBLIC OF NICARAGUA
Has ordered the following:
THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF THE REPUBLIC OF NICARAGUA
In use of its faculties,
HAS ISSUED
The following:
LAW NO. 1055
LAW IN DEFENSE OF THE RIGHTS OF THE PEOPLE TO INDEPENDENCE, SOVEREIGNTY AND SELF DETERMINATION FOR PEACE
Article 1 Defense of the rights of the people
Nicaraguans who lead or finance a coup, who alter the constitutional order, who promote or encourage terrorists acts, who carry out acts that diminish independence, sovereignty and self-determination, who abet foreign interference in internal affairs, ask for military interventions, organize with financing from foreign powers to carry out acts of terrorism and destabilization, who propose and procure economic, commercial and financial operational blockades against the country and its institutions, those who demand, exalt and applaud the imposition of sanctions against the State of Nicaragua and its citizens, and all those who harm the supreme interests of the nation contemplated in the legal ordering, will be “Traitors to the Fatherland” which is why they will not be able to opt for elective offices, irrespective of the corresponding penal actions established in the Penal Code of the Republic of Nicaragua for “Acts of Betrayal”, “Crimes that compromise Peace” and “Crimes against the Constitution of the Republic of Nicaragua.”
Article 2 Publication and date it takes effect
The current Law will take effect with its publication in the Gaceta, the Official Daily publication.
Issued in the Session Hall of the National Assembly in the city of Managua on the twenty first day of the month of December in year two thousand twenty.
Deputy Loria Raquel Dixon Brautigam
First Secretary of the National Assembly