Nicaragua, under the regime of dictator Daniel Ortega, has used methods of transnational repression to persecute opponents residing outside the country, as highlighted in the report on countries’ human rights practices in 2023, released by the United States Department of State at the end Of april.
The document points out that the Nicaraguan regime carried out actions against individuals located in other countries, mainly in neighboring countries such as Costa Rica.
“Exiles in Costa Rica and elsewhere have alleged harassment and political oppression by paramilitary units and supporters of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) (Ortega’s party) who crossed the border to target exiles, as well as by intelligence officers assigned to inside the Nicaraguan embassy in Costa Rica”, says the text available on the US State Department website.
The attack carried out against the opponent Joao Maldonado and his wife, Nadia Robleto, in January this year, could be one of the examples of the transnational repression put into practice by the Managua regime. Maldonado and Robleto were seriously injured after being shot at by armed men on motorcycles who surrounded their car in the Costa Rican capital, San José.
Although there is still no concrete evidence directly linking this attack to Ortega’s Sandinista regime, Maldonado had already said in an interview with the local newspaper La Nacion that he suffered death threats from members of the Nicaraguan regime, due to his criticism of the dictator of Central American country. The opponent also stated in the interview that Nicaragua has cells within Costa Rica to persecute Sandinista dissidents.
In 2021 Maldonado had already been the target of four shots fired by unknown men, at that moment he decided to ask for protection from the country’s justice system, a measure that was granted. Both cases related to the attacks against Maldonado have not yet been resolved by Costa Rican authorities.
To the Argentine website Infobaeopposition leader Juan Sebastián Chamorro, highlights the existence of evidence of surveillance against opposition leaders and activists, especially those who report human rights violations in Nicaragua, on Costa Rican territory
“The topic of transnational repression is becoming relevant in light of some events that raise many suspicions, the main one being the attack against João Maldonado, in Costa Rica,” he said.
Chamorro, who was a political prisoner and expelled from Nicaragua, mentioned to the Argentine website suspicions about the number of personnel allocated to the Nicaraguan embassy in Costa Rica, indicating possible surveillance and monitoring activities under diplomatic protection.
“The large number of people present there under diplomatic protection does not correspond to the normal work of a consular section or embassy of a country. In other words, there are suspicions that many of those there, in that embassy, are part of surveillance and monitoring. Obviously, we cannot prove this, but it is being talked about”, he says.
Another method of repression in Nicaragua mentioned in the report released by the US is the use of threats, harassment, surveillance and coercion against family members of opponents abroad. A large part of the family members of exiled opponents still reside in Nicaragua and harassment by the regime would be a way of “forcing” the return of those the country wishes to send to prison.
“Family members of opposition members in exile were surveilled, harassed, detained and unfairly convicted as part of government attempts to force exiled opposition members to return to the country and face imprisonment,” says the American report.
Furthermore, according to the US, the Nicaraguan regime also misused Interpol’s red alerts – search notifications for people wanted abroad, for political purposes, with the aim of targeting and even capturing opponents who are in Ortega’s sights and who reside outside the country.
“There were credible reports that the (Ortega) regime attempted to use Interpol Red Notices for politically motivated purposes such as retaliation against individuals it considered opponents, including clerics who went into exile,” the report says.
Controlling the mobility of those residing outside the country is also a practice mentioned in the report, with reports of denial of basic consular services to citizens abroad and the denial of access to passports for political opponents and their families.
“There were credible reports that authorities attempted to control mobility to carry out reprisals against citizens abroad by denying them consular services. Migration authorities in the country and through consulates abroad denied access to passports to perceived political opponents and their families, preventing them from traveling to a third country,” the document reveals.
To the Infobaethe Chamorro opposition leader said that transnational persecution is a common practice in authoritarian countries, even with similarities in procedures.
For him, what Nicaragua has been doing is part of the transnational repression technique used in both Russia and Iran for many years: “the attack and persecution of dissidents and opponents in exile. Including murder.”
Chamorro said this is “basically a method in which they use investigative and surveillance cells to perpetrate this intimidation” abroad.
The Ortega regime’s response to the American report was made by Rosario Murillo, the dictator’s wife, who rejected the accusations and accused the US of violating human rights and having committed “crimes against Nicaragua”.