Nicaragua has 77 political prisoners as of October 29, 2025
In Nicaragua Investiga, Oct 31, 2025
22 of the total number of people jailed for political reasons are elderly adults.
The Mechanism for the Recognition of Political Prisoners in Nicaragua said this past October 30th that in this Central American country there are 77 political opponents jailed for political reasons.
In their monthly report they said that most of them are men, a total of 65, while 12 women also are counted as political prisoners.
Nearly half of that number are found to be in forced disappearance and there are also 22 elderly adults among them.
“In the latest report of the Blue and White Monitor for the month of September, 150 arrests are reflected between the months of January and September of 2025, 23 of these cases have been added to the current list, nevertheless there are still more than 80 cases whose status has not been able to be confirmed nor linked with the affected families,” said the Mechanism in the document.
GHREN asks the international community for action
Just this past Thursday [Oct 30, 2025] the Human Rights Group on Nicaragua (GHREN) presented to the General Assembly of the UN their most recent report in which they denounced the increase of repression, which crosses beyond Nicaragua´s borders, as well as the increase in forced disappearances, a crime which is considered a crime against humanity in the Rome Statutes.
The Mechanism pointed out that “the families of the affected people continue being threatened and harassed by the authorities, who try to block any public denouncement or accompaniment from human rights organizations. This climate of intimidation and ongoing surveillance has generated a high degree of self-censorship and forced silence, which contributes to the wide underreporting of detentions and human rights violations.”
Before the UN GHREN requested decisive actions from the international community against the serious human rights violations in Nicaragua, among them taking the country to the International Court of Justice to prevent the ongoing impunity and hold the dictators Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo responsible for these crimes.
22 political prisoners are elderly adults
Of those known to have been arrested, 31 of them are held in the La Modelo jail in Managua. In addition, they provided the names of the 22 elderly adults considered to be political prisoners.
They are Eliseo de Jesús Castro Baltodano, José Manuel Urbina Lara, Wilfredo José Balmaceda Castrillo, Zacarías Isabel Cano Angul, José Ricardo Cortez Dávila, Eddie Moisés González Valdivia, Nancy Elizabeth Henríquez James, Eddy Danilo Melendez Lacayo and Brooklyn Rivera Bryan.
Also Lesbia del Socorro Gutiérrez Poveda, Steadman Fagot Müller, Victor Boitano Coleman, Leo Catalino Cárcamo Herrera, Fabio Alberto Cáceres Larios, Julio Antonio Quintana Carvajal, Henry Hildefonso, Ruíz Hernández, Álvaro Antonio Baltodano Cantarrero, Aníbal Martin Rivas Reed, Mario José Rodríguez Serrano, Marvin Antonio Campos Chavarría, Carlos Ramón Brenes Sánchez and Salvadora del Socorro Martínez Aburto.
IAHRC issues protective measures
This week the Interamerican Human Rights Commission (IAHRC) granted protective measures to 10 Nicaraguans in jail for political reasons, among which are Álvaro Baltodano Cantero and his son, the businessman Álvaro Baltodano Monroy, who were jailed between the past months of May and August.
“Of all the people disappeared, 42% belong to the province of Carazo, 17% to Managua and 14% to Masaya, which shows a focus of repression concentrated in the province of Carazo. Of the cases of forced disappearances, 65 are men and 12 women. Nevertheless, a worrisome tendency is observed: the regime disappears proportionally more women than men,” warned the Mechanism.
