Lawyers and notaries of Nicaragua trapped in the network of Sandinista surveillance
In DIVERGENTES, Sept 17, 2025
Being a lawyer or notary has become a risky profession in Nicaragua. Scrutiny over the profession does not just come from the Supreme Court, but also from colleagues, Judicial Branch officials and even the Citizen Power Councils (CPC), which generates a climate of continuous pressure. The slogan is clear; obey dispositions without question. Otherwise, the repression can be translated into procedural obstacles, delays in the renovation of their permits, or in the worst of cases, the loss of their licenses.
Alberto, a lawyer who requested anonymity while speaking with DIVERGENTES, states that what most bothers him is the surveillance on the community level. According to his story, members of the CPC visit lawyers in the neighborhoods in an apparently cordial manner, but with an unequivocal message: “Get in line or we will get you in line.”
In addition, these visits tend to include the expectation that the professionals participate in community activities, which turns their presence in the neighborhoods into an additional obligation which reinforces political control over the profession. “I am not against the regulations of the Supreme Court, I know that there is greater control, but as notaries we need to be more and more careful,” he said, worried.
The lawyer recalled that the surveillance over notaries began with the control over stamped paper[1]. Now to acquire it one must be registered in the General Income Office (DGI, equivalent to the IRS in the US) and provide personal information, email and telephone number.
Each purchase is associated with a number and series, which, according to this litigator with more than 30 years of experience, turns what could be seen as a classification into a mechanism of control. “The stamped paper has a bar code which shows information about the notary who generated it in the PASE System, in addition to the date and hour of its emission,” he explained.
Previously, this paper could be acquired by anyone and even lent between colleagues. Today, everything remains registered under the name of the lawyer who bought it. “It is speculated within the profession that this is a way of imposing two charges; an annual right to practice and payment to the Supreme Court (CSJ) for a permit to function, and an insurance policy for damages in notarial exercise paid in INISER (Nicaraguan Institute for Insurance and reinsurance). This last measure would be a great benefit for the government, because with more than 40,000 lawyers it would generate millions in tax income,“ said the person interviewed.
Control over stamped paper and notary procedures
Another one of the complaints of the lawyer is the limitation of access to stamped paper: currently the system only allows the acquisition of ten protocol sheets and ten testimonial sheets per person, when previously the quantity was open, depending on the needs of the professional.
This measure, which in appearance seeks to order the use of the paper, in practice forces the notaries to more tight and recurrent control on the part of the system. “This is a deliberate rationing…and effect of control which reinforces the follow-up on our activities and takes away our autonomy. Previously I administered the protocol and testimonial papers depending on the work demand; now no, now we are full of red tape. Simple: the profession is under continuous supervision…and this complicates our independent practice,” said Mariana, a specialist in family law interviewed by DIVERGENTES under condition of anonymity.
The lawyer litigant added that even for natural persons, it is complicated for them to get stamped paper, because they are only allowed to buy between three to five sheets. She said that, at least in the Administration of Income in Sajonia where she observed this process, a student had to present the grades from his last year and ID to justify the purchase. In contrast, the timbres[2] continue to be freely available.
Five year permits: delays as mechanism of repression
The delay in the authorization of five year permits is another mechanism of pressure, denounced Alberto. What previously took two months now can take more than a year. According to his testimony, this prolonged lapse “serves to buy time, surreptitiously inspect and control your processes.”
Even though he admits that a certain amount of oversight is not negative, he questions the inefficiency of a disorganized system with few officials, and that “works as if they were improvising.” To this is added an even greater concern: that these inspections serve in practice to investigate with what dissidents each lawyer is working.
Alberto is part of a hundred notaries who are awaiting the authorization of their five year permits. The delay, he states, has already caused him economic losses, because it keeps him from doing public deeds, sales documents, donations, wills, marriages, divorces and even buying stamped paper without working in an institution. He said that the CSJ took nine months to grant a colleague their notary permit and that he knows of other notaries who have been waiting a year and a half, “when previously it was practically immediate; now they [CSJ] are only working till noon.”
Economic control and obligatory formats
Mariana with 32 years of notary experience, states that the profession has never felt so much oversight as now. She explained to DIVERGENTES that, from her perspective, greater control is focused on the paperwork of an economic nature, especially since Law No. 977 – Law against asset laundering, financing of terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. To this is added the joint supervision of the Attorney General of the Republic (PGR) and the CSJ.
She says that both entities have been especially stealthy with the legal paperwork for the cession of inheritance rights and sales documents. She explained that, after the reform of Law 977 approved on November 30, 2023, lawyers were required to fill out the “Declaration form against money laundering and the registration procedure for DLD/FT certifications.” This document, in addition to requiring all the data of the litigant, must be sent to the CSJ, which sends it to the PGR for their review.
According to the lawyer, previously this requirement did not exist: there was a certain amount of control, like the regulation of protocols, but it was not necessary to fill out, nor send a format of this nature. Now, in contrast, it is obligatory to fill it out online, and save the document in the protocol of the lawyers for procedures which cost more than 200,000 córdobas.
“It is a control format; nevertheless, the data which they request is invasive, not just for me as a lawyer, but also for the clients. I understand that the Government wants to track where the money is coming from and having greater control, but there is the obstacle: there are lawyers who do not want to comply with the norm, others do not know how to fill it out, and in some cases, the family cannot do it either (because there exists a format for the natural person and another one for the lawyer). In addition, it is a long and tedious document, “ she specified, and added that the CSJ has a long list of procedures for which this type of form is obligatory, because as she maintains, “everything is under investigation.”
Lawyers blocked from transacting in state offices
Even litigating has become more complex. First because of the oversight, then because of the cases that they accept as lawyers, the registration in the DGI, and now because even doing transactions in the Ministry of the Family, Ministry of Labor and other state offices has gotten tedious.
Mariana commented that those institutions no longer allow lawyers to enter, not even to the PGR: “Natural people are the only ones who can do the paperwork, while they throw the lawyers into the street or send them to sit in reception, or they tell you “keep quiet, you cannot speak”, a situation which previously did not happen.”
The official justification is that the procedures are free and do not require the intervention of a lawyer. Nevertheless, efficiency and agility are far from being characteristics of state institutions.
As the lawyer explained, “Defense Counsels say that they are also lawyers, and it all is free…When they see you, they throw you out and only allow the client to go in. This affects us because we do the paperwork and provide accompaniment. Even if we have a power of representation, the natural person must be present.” For her, this practice forms part of the strategy of the regime to keep Nicaraguans under surveillance in their personal efforts.
She clarified that in penal and civil matters the accompaniment of lawyers is still permitted, but in administrative procedures it is getting increasingly complex. The control is such that if the solicitant cannot be present, that person must designate a relative and provide their data so that they can represent them, but never a lawyer. All of these control mechanisms over practicing the legal profession or notary practice in Nicaragua forces professionals to cope with strict regulations, supervised procedures and constant oversight, institutional as well as communitarian. The profession, which previously could practice independently, now faces a system which monitors every action, limits their participation in procedures, and keeps lawyers as well as those who depend on them under strict scrutiny. The big question is: what autonomy is left to a lawyer in these conditions?
[1] Stamped by the government which is required for filing legal documents.
[2] Additional stamps added to the stamped paper to pay additional fees.
