President of the IACHR: “The Ortega Murillo regime reinvents itself in perversity”
In La Prensa, March 5, 2025
The president of the IACHR warned that the new Sandinista “Constitution” imposed by the Ortega Murillo regime established absolute power violating human rights.
The president of the Interamerican Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) José Luis Caballero Ochoa, stated that the imposition of the new Sandinista “Constitution” reflects that the Ortega Murillo regime “reinvents itself” in perversity to persecute and criminalize any dissidence to the dictatorship.
“Unfortunately, the regime continues reinventing its mechanisms of repression towards perversity. First, with the closure of academic institutions and invalidating university degrees; then, with the annulment of passports and the loss of nationality; and now with an authoritarian and arbitrary reconfiguration of the constitutional framework to establish an absolute and dictatorial power,” said Caballero during a hearing of the IACHR, requested by the Center for International Justice and Rights (CEJIL) and other human rights organizations.
This past February 19th the new Sandinista Constitution took effect, imposed by the dictatorship. Even though the regime promoted it as a partial reform, the new constitution modifies more than 100 articles, transforms the State, eliminates the balance of powers, and grants absolute control to the dictators Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo.
Caballero pointed out that the imposition of the new Constitution represents a break and an affront for Latin American constitutionalism.
“Well it has experienced progress and setbacks in the last 30 years, it has worked on the consolidation of the autonomy of the constitutional organs, the protection of rights and incorporation of international human rights treaties. Nevertheless, in Nicaragua this constitutional framework has been dismantled with the elimination of key dispositions, “ Caballero pointed out.
UN also critical
The Office of the High Commissioner of the United Nations for Human Rights (OHCHR) mentioned on February 27 at least three aspects of the new Sandinista Constitution which they consider highly concerning due to the violation of human rights which these changes bring.
The deputy representative of the regional office of the OHCHR, Andrés Sánchez Thorin, pointed out that one of the most alarming changes is the elimination of Articles 33 and 34, which established fundamental principles of due process and minimal judicial guarantees.
“The elimination of these fundamental guarantees of due process is a reason for great concern, especially in a context in which our office continues documenting patterns of arbitrary detentions and violations of the principles of due process,” warned Sánchez during the event Nicaragua: new constitutional architecture, repressive legislation and their impact on human rights in the framework of the 58th period of sessions of the Human Rights Council of the United Nations (UN) in Geneva, Switzerland.
Citizen rights subordinated to the ideology of the regime in the new constitution
Even though Sánchez did not mention it in his dissertation, specialists consulted previously by La Prensa warned that the new Sandinista Constitution subordinates citizen rights to so called “fundamental principles” in at least 12 articles.
These principles, which in theory should guarantee the democratic functioning of the State and respect for human rights, have been reinterpreted in favor of the Government, eliminating essential values like justice and dignity. As a consequence, fundamental rights like freedom of expression, freedom of organization, and public demonstration are left subject to adhesion to these principles, which grants the regime a wide margin of discretion to restrict freedoms under the argument of preserving peace or security.
Article 5 of the Constitution used to guarantee political pluralism, ensuring freedom of organization and participation of all parties in electoral processes and the economic, social and political life of the country. Nevertheless, in the new Constitution promoted by the Sandinistas, this guarantee has been eliminated and replaced by a vague concept of “cultural and social pluralism”, which leaves out the principal of political competition and restricts ideological diversity in the country.
MESENI prepares reports
María Claudia Pulido, the deputy executive secretary for monitoring, promotion and technical cooperation on human rights since September 1, 2017, stated in the hearing that the Special Follow-up Mechanism for Nicaragua (MESENI) is preparing a report on the impact on the human rights of afro-descendent and indigenous peoples in Nicaragua, an issue which the Commission has addressed in the past. “Likewise, the annual report is about to be presented of the Commission with the observations made during year 2024,” stated Pulido.