From “living nice” to “living ugly”: Silence as a survival strategy in Nicaragua
In La Prensa, January 12, 2025
Nothing is normal in Nicaragua, although it might appear to be, where the dictatorship exercises brutal repression against the population through espionage and police and military harassment. Social leaders, jurists, and a journalist explain that you can only live in the country by not touching “the demon”.
A young woman of Managua, whose mother lives outside of Nicaragua, recently went to a bank to deposit $500 for her, due to the fact that it has not gone well for her mother as a migrant, but she had to provide a series of excessive details which included even what her mother was going to spend the money on.
In almost the entire country, penal lawyers have quit working in their field and have had to occupy themselves with family or civil cases or working outside their profession to survive, because currently it is literally a crime to defend religious or people categorized as opponents to the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo.
In addition, as the lawyer Aura Estela Alarcón reveals, evangelical churches throughout the country have been closed because in a meeting with authorities of the regime the leaders were opposed to an inclusive booklet on gender which Rosario Murillo is imposing on them.
In San Carlos, Río San Juan, the environmentalist Amaru Ruiz explained that people speak in a low voice when they want to complain about the poor quality of public services in order to not be heard by their neighbor allied with the dictatorship.
And this past December, Yader Morazán, an expert in the administration of justice, indicated that many State workers have avoided making large expenditures under the uncertainty that when they return to their jobs this January they could be laid off, as has happened with many public employees in recent months.
For his part, the businessman and journalist now in exile, Henry Briceño, pointed out that the dictatorship spent “a ton of money” on festive events each week through the municipal governments throughout the country, to keep the population entertained and so they would not think about the serious social, political and economic problems which currently afflict Nicaragua. Nevertheless, only the followers of the regime attend these events.
The life of Nicaraguans has gotten complicated since 2018, when the Ortega Murillo regime repressed the civic protests begun in April of that year with paramilitaries and weapons of war, and to flee from that repression nearly a million Nicaraguans, 13.6% of the total population, have left the country since then, according to data from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), revealed in the report of the UN Group of Human Rights Experts on Nicaragua (GHREN), presented in March 2024.
Nevertheless, obviously, there are many more Nicaraguans who have remained in the country and have seen themselves obliged to live under the rules of the Ortega Murillos.
“People know two things in Nicaragua, one, that a type of social pact exists which is secret, they know that they must be quiet to be able to stay in the country and survive. Everyone knows that you can live in the country as long as you do not touch the demon. On the other hand, people know that they should not get involved in anything, not even religious activities,” indicated Yader Morazán.
From “living nice” which Rosario Murillo proclaimed at the beginning of the dictatorship, the Ortega regime has passed to imposing “living ugly” on Nicaraguans.
They only talk in whispers
In the countryside, specifically in the border zone with Costa Rica, people feel that “life has gotten expensive”, indicated the environmental leader Amaru Ruiz. Nevertheless, “the fear exists that no one can speak” or complain.
“People lower their voices to speak about issues that at times are not even political, like how the electric goes out in San Carlos,” manifested Ruiz, who adds that they do it because they distrust their neighbors, especially if they are recognized followers of the Ortega Murillo regime.
Many people even lied during the census which the dictatorship did in 2024, out of fear that information provided might be used for the regime to begin persecutions.
The worst of the current repression of the dictatorship, indicated Ruiz, is that there are many divided families in the country, because a lot of people have left, above all youth. “This has changed even the dynamic of towns,” expressed the environmentalist.
Not all is negative, according to Ruiz, because talking with people he finds that, in spite of the fear which reigns among Nicaraguans, there is also “hope that there will be change.”
The people of Río San Juan are concerned about the sweeps of public employees that the regime is carrying out in public institutions, who are laid off without receiving severance pay, as well as the removal of mayors.
“In terms of the removal of mayors, some say that it is good because they were stealing or because they have not done anything. Others say that it is bad because who decides are the people in the capital, they do not mention Daniel or Rosario, that is understood,” explained Ruiz.
There is a lot of fear also over the control which the regime has over the bank accounts of the population, because many receive family remittances, likewise they are also concerned about migratory controls, especially now that the regime has reformed the migratory laws to jail those who cross the border in an irregular manner.
“The cordobization of the economy, due to remittances, is something which people also resent. They say that they want to control family remittances,” indicated Ruiz, who pointed out that the population does not necessarily complain about political things, but those things which affect them economically, like the invasion of Chinese businesses, said the social leader.
“It is not what Daniel says, whether he sent a letter, it is what affects them in their daily lives,” he emphasized.
Control through the justice system
The lawyers in the country are some of the professions which are suffering most the impact of the repression of the Ortega Murillos, explained the lawyer Aura Estela Alarcón, because they are criminalized if they defend religious or people considered to be dissenters, in other words, political prisoners.
“Defending people for political or religious matters became a crime,” indicated the jurist.
Due to this, many lawyers are looking for another way to earn a living and the courts of the country are being filled with young lawyers who only say `yes sir ‘to the justice system of the regime, and in many cases, they are youth sympathetic to the dictatorship.
“Now what the Police say is law even though it is made up,” lamented Alarcón, who pointed out that in political cases those who are acting are public defenders completely obedient to the dictatorship, which puts the population under the complete control of the dictatorship.
“People live in silence and the lawyers under control. People do what the Government says in order to survive,” said the lawyer.
For some time now, Alarcón adds, the citizenry has to inform the Attorney General of the Republic (PGR) to sell their properties, and if a notary draws up a bill of sale, they have to inform the Supreme Court within five days that someone is selling something or who bought it and where they got the money.
“In Nicaragua people are not the owner of their properties. It is a way of controlling the people,” she laments.
Although one might say that there is normality in Nicaragua, the lawyer states that this is not true.
“Nothing can be normal when it is under silence, when there is no freedom, when all the laws which are approved are done without the legal mechanism of the Constitution, the very fact of having (the Ortega Murillos) transforming the Constitution in their favor, removes all normality,” she pronounced.
The espionage of the dictatorship
The Nicaraguan population can be divided into three segments, states the businessperson and journalist Henry Briceño, recently banished by the Ortega Murillos.
Those segments are the dissidents, those who are within the government, and those who are supposedly apathetic, those who do not get involved in politics and who, according to Briceño, are a minority, even though they did participate in the protests of April 2018.
I)n terms of the people who are within the government, Briceño indicated that there are also segments, because there are those who hate the dictatorship, but stay there hoping to retire soon, or because they have to survive. “They go to the marches compromised,” pointed out Briceño.
There are also the informants who are those who are really sympathizers of the dictatorship.
In terms of those who are described as apathetic, Briceño indicated that, even though they repudiate the dictatorship, they do not say anything because they also have to survive, and are especially economic actors who are controlled by the municipal governments, especially the small and medium business owners. “The big ones (businesses) are controlled through the banks,” he stated.
Lastly, in terms of the dissidents, he says that they can only exercise a “silent opposition”, because they are under surveillance by the espionage system of the dictatorship, especially through spies in the neighborhoods or through their computers and phones.
Concerning the espionage of the dictatorship against the dissidents, Briceño states that they also do it through the bikers, who are paid by the municipal governments and can be recognized because they hang out in the zonal offices of the Sandinista Front (FSLN) and the regime gives them fuel and facilities for acquiring motorcycles.
They can be distinguished also because their motorcycles do not have license plates, they are seen doing nothing in the municipal offices, or filling their tanks in gas stations with coupons from the municipal government.
The bikers of the Police are different because, even though they are dressed in civilian clothing, they wear military boots and never take off their helmets, apart from the fact that their motorcycles do not have plates.
“The Police act with the information which these bikers provide. The Police visit you and tell you who it is who is going to be dealing with you, who you need to report to, and they take your picture. They also corroborate what you tell them,” said Briceño.
In Nicaragua, states the journalist, telephones are intervened and the Russians collaborate hundred percent with technological espionage, in addition to the fact that the Cuban G2 are in charge in Nicaragua, that is to say, the Intelligence Office of the communist island.
