Nicaragua Country Report - October 2026
By Juliana Girotto
In recent years, Nicaragua’s government has moved to openly oppress political life and failed to protect vulnerable groups against violence. In 2025, Nicaragua withdrew from the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council and its subsidiary mechanisms, restricting international access and heightening concerns for Nicaraguans’ human rights.
Since a 2018 crackdown on anti-government protests killed over 300 people, the regime under Co-Presidents Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo has descended into widespread repression. In July 2026, Ortega announced that Nicaragua would hold no more elections, postponing the vote scheduled for late 2026 to 2027. Ortega and Murrillo have been in power since 2007. In the most recent 2021 elections, reports describe the detention and disqualification from holding a seat in office, or exile of any candidate with a chance to garner votes. Equally concerning, judicial courts offer no check on this concentration of power. After the police took control of the Supreme Court in 2023, constitutional reforms in 2025 stripped the judiciary of its status as an independent branch of government and subordinated it to the Co-Presidents. This means Nicaraguans have essentially no access to independent elections or judicial bodies.
There is vast evidence of the destruction of civil society and liberties. Since 2018, authorities have canceled government registration of over 5,600 civil society organizations. At least 695 of these organizations were religiously affiliated and nearly 300 were women's and LGBTQ+ rights focused. This crackdown on non-state entities is concerning because many citizens, especially oppressed or targeted groups, rely on these organizations for support.
Nicaragua’s government has extended its harsh repression beyond its borders. According to a March 2026 report by the the Group of Human Rights Experts on Nicaragua (GHREN), the government has arbitrarily deprived 452 Nicaraguans of their nationality and left thousands more exiles stateless by refusing to renew their documents or allow them to return. In this report, experts described how the government uses a transnational surveillance and intelligence network linking the army, police, and migration authorities to monitor and intimidate Nicaraguans abroad. These actions have particularly targeted press and media workers. Reports document the exile of more than 280 Nicaraguan media workers since 2018.
Beyond the government's political restraints, Indigenous and Afro-descendent communities on the Caribbean coast face a long-running land crisis that is closely tied to the region's illicit economies. Armed settlers have attacked Miskito and Mayangna communities over land disputes, killing an estimated 70 people in these attacks over the last decade. Reports indicate that many settlers have invaded Indigenous territories to carry out illegal mining, logging, cattle ranching, and marijuana cultivation, depleting communities' natural resources and leading to forced displacement. The Organized Crime Index says Nicaraguan criminal networks provide services to transnational timber, wildlife, and drug trafficking, where state officials collude and mount only symbolic anti-crime efforts. This evidence shows an overlap between organized crime networks and systemic violence against Indigenous communities. The state offers these communities no protection.
Due to the Nicaraguan government’s persecution of political opponents through eliminating free and fair elections, targeting journalists and civil society organizations, and its lack of protection for vulnerable groups and Indigenous communities, Genocide Watch considers Nicaragua to be at Stage 8: Persecution.
Genocide Watch recommends:
The Nicaraguan government should commit to free elections, restore the independence of the judiciary, and allow civil society organizations to practice freely.
Countries hosting Nicaraguan exiles, including the United States, should expedite asylum for stateless exiles and avoid deporting anyone to Nicaragua who faces risk of persecution.
The Nicaraguan government should offer protections for Indigenous communities against settlers by fulfilling promises of land demarcation and crackdown on organized crime networks in the country.
The international community should urge Nicaragua to rejoin the UN Human Rights Council and allow for independent monitoring.
