What we now call Concertación Democrática Nicaragüense CDN-Monteverde was initially known as the Monteverde Group, regarding the place in Costa Rica where, in 2021, the first meetings were held. We are the extension of an initiative that first built trust among a group of Nicaraguans who believe in democracy.
However, as of January 2024, after two years of negotiation and consensus, we became an actor of political concertation, comprised of diverse political and social organizations and individuals who participate in a personal capacity. We join together to lead a political strategy with actions in several key areas. This concertation aims to unite as many civic actors as possible to consolidate a diverse political coalition that includes the main pro-democratic voices of Nicaragua.
Monteverde’s lines of action
The CDN works to consolidate a political alternative that defines the peaceful route out of the Ortega-Murillo regime and the transition toward the restoration of democracy. We adhere to democratic principles and procedures based on inclusive plurality, tolerance, equality, respect for the rule of law, and civil and political rights. At the same time, we seek to strengthen our role as interlocutors with the international community.
The definition of that peaceful route will allow us to find a solution from the Ortega-Murillo dictatorship and is the priority of the CDN since that is the only way to put an end to the totalitarian repression that prevails in Nicaragua. This situation since 2018 to date has led to dozens of assassinations, imprisonments, the greatest exile recorded in the history of Nicaragua, the denationalization of more than three hundred political and social leaders, journalists, and priests, and countless human rights violations. Repression crosses Nicaraguan borders in search of its victims, who are denied identity documents, are denied entry into their country, and are excluded from bank accounts or prevented from having them.
Religious authorities have not escaped this totalitarian repression, considering that more than two hundred Catholic priests and nuns, among them the bishops Rolando Alvarez and Isidoro Mora, have been banished, most of them after months or years of unjustified imprisonment. They also harass the Evangelical Church and attack its pastors. Recently, thirteen members of the Puerta de la Montaña evangelical ministry were convicted of alleged money laundering and organized crime.
Meanwhile, corruption reigns at the expense of the people; the regime indebts the country to benefit an exclusive elite and takes advantage of remittances to facilitate repression and extortion.
The situation is also dramatic in the economic field. Currently, the levels of poverty, labor informality, unemployment, and inequality have increased and become another reason for the massive migration of Nicaraguans. Between 2018 and 2023, in at least three countries, the number of Nicaraguans welcomed as refugees or political asylees amounts to 346,000. Additionally, U.S. authorities report that between 2018 and February of this year, 423,052 Nicaraguans irregularly crossed the U.S. border.
All this justifies our struggle for a transition to democracy. To achieve these goals, we promote a model of concertation that facilitates the expansion of alliances and capacities and strengthens a space of peaceful resistance that offers solutions to the current crisis and future alternatives for a post-Ortega Nicaragua.
As part of this strategy, we have formed working groups connected to support networks in the country’s interior. At the same time, we promote advocacy actions at the international level to generate external pressure against the regime.
We are a plural space searching for a Nicaragua where we can all prosper.
Nicaragua under the Ortega Murillo Regime
The biggest exodus in history:
As a result of the political crisis, between 2018 and 2023, some 346,000 Nicaraguans were received in at least three countries as refugees or political asylees. In addition, between 2018 and February 2024, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) detained 423,052 Nicaraguans who illegally crossed the U.S. border. About 14% of the population left the country, which is the largest exodus ever recorded in our history.
Without freedom of association:
According to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), between December 2018 and November 2023, the regime canceled the legal status of 3,390 Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) out of almost 5 thousand that existed. The closures have not ceased; even the Red Cross is among those affected. These closures imply the loss of some 250 million dollars a year in aid that these NGOs used to bring to the neediest population.
Without democracy:
The legal status of all political parties that have never aligned themselves with the government was canceled. The prominent opposition leaders were imprisoned in 2021, and almost two years later, they were banished, denationalized, and their assets confiscated. There is no freedom of expression, and they do not allow any type of independent political activity. There are no free elections, and to date, there are more than 100 political prisoners.
Without freedom of the press:
More than 50 independent media outlets, including newspapers, television channels, and radio stations, were closed, and 16 of them had their assets confiscated. 246 journalists were forced into exile to preserve their freedom and continue reporting. Nicaragua has become the only country in the world without printed newspapers or independent journalism.
Religious Persecution
More than 200 Catholic leaders, nuns, and priests have been expelled from the country, affecting the functioning of the 322 parishes in the country. Dozens of priests were imprisoned, among them two of the nine bishops of the Catholic hierarchy. More than 380 religious organizations, both evangelical and Catholic, were canceled, their assets confiscated, and many of their members expelled. It is currently forbidden to officiate masses and carry out Catholic processions or evangelical services outside the temples.
Without union organizations:
They have closed and confiscated the assets of the Consejo Superior de la Empresa Privada (Superior Council of Private Enterprise–COSEP), the leading business organization, along with the 20 chambers that made it up. They imprisoned three of its directors for almost two years, then banished, denationalized, and confiscated them. Since then, departmental and municipal associations have continued to be closed. In addition, local and foreign companies suffer from tax extortion without the possibility of defending themselves.
Without autonomous universities
In the last three years, 38 private higher education institutions have been closed and their assets confiscated. The best-known cases are the Universidad Centroamericana (UCA), which the Jesuit Order administrated, and the Central American Institute of Business Administration (INCAE). Hundreds of professors were left unemployed, and more than 37,000 students with their careers cut short and with only two options: to resume them in one of the eleven state or subsidized universities, where political indoctrination predominates, or to have to resort to migration in search of opportunities.
Without autonomy in the Caribbean Coast:
As part of the State’s control over the inhabitants of the communities of the Autonomous Regions of the Caribbean Coast, more than one hundred indigenous and Afro-descendant organizations were closed, including the Yatama party, the leading political association in that area of the country, and its directors have been held hostage since November 2023.