On November 21, 2024, Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo consolidated their authoritarian model through the hasty approval in the National Assembly of a new Constitution that dismantles democratic principles and deepens the systematic violations of human rights.

This reform not only normalizes repressive practices, but also reinforces a state apparatus designed to guarantee the social control of the dictatorship, facilitating the persecution of any critical voice.

Among the changes is the creation of the voluntary Police, which incorporates within the State structure the paramilitary forces that act as the repressive arm of the regime. This new security body, with broad powers, operates under a scheme of militarization of public security that subordinates civil order to partisan interests. This measure consolidates the police state supported by an army willing to act as a pillar of authoritarianism.

Another central aspect is the granting of absolute powers to Ortega and Murillo to decide who is a Nicaraguan citizen. Through ambiguous wording, the reform grants them the power to revoke the nationality of opponents or dissidents, leaving them in a state of legal defenselessness. This tool adds to the repressive arsenal to silence those who dare to dissent.

Reform consolidates the dynasty

For the media, the reform constitutionalizes the concept of “false news” as a censorship mechanism. This arbitrarily defined term is used for the criminal prosecution of journalists and independent media, restricting freedom of expression. Likewise, the criminalization of critical information through digital media seeks to consolidate a propaganda monopoly in the hands of the regime.

The figure of “co-presidency”, which grants Rosario Murillo a role equal to that of the president, is another central axis of this reform. With this, the concentration of power in a family nucleus is consecrated, aggravated with the power for them to designate vice presidents, eliminating any vestige of institutional independence and consolidating a dynasty.

In addition, it suppresses the separation of the powers of the State and destroys the essential counterweights for a democratic system. The Ortega-Murillo assume the function of supreme coordinators of the judicial, legislative and electoral powers, now devalued to organs, and constitute a single and absolute power. 

Subordinates individual guarantees to political interests

Nicaragua ceases to be a social State of law to become a so-called revolutionary State, where the diarchy assigns itself arbitrary power and considers itself the source of law above its own Constitution and international treaties.

The violation of the principle of non-regression in human rights, a fundamental pillar of international law, which prohibits any regression in the level of protection achieved, is alarmingly evident in this reform. These repeal fundamental rights, limit their content and establish restrictions incompatible with international standards, subordinating individual guarantees to the interests of the dictatorship’s political project.

This approach, based on a State-based conception of peace and security, contravenes the indivisible, interdependent and progressive nature of human rights, eroding the essential core of rights that no State should disregard under any circumstances.

For human rights, the dissociation of Nicaragua from the universal and inter-American protection systems, by repealing the provision that gave them constitutional value to the contents of the main declarations and treaties, aims to prevent citizens from being able to avail themselves of their protection and ensure impunity, before national courts, for crimes against humanity.

Reform eliminates political pluralism

While the elimination of the prohibition of torture formalizes repressive practices as a tool for persecution and punishment and the loss of independence of the judiciary and of judges in particular, plus the elimination of many of the constitutional guarantees, make it impossible to apply due process, the right to defense and effective judicial protection.

Finally, the inclusion of partisan symbols such as the FSLN flag in the official identity of the State reinforces the total subordination of public institutions to the Ortega’s political project.

For the Nicaraguan Democratic Concertation (CDN), the capture of the State by a family with centralized and absolute power, where the rights of the citizen are not recognized and political pluralism is eliminated through a new blatantly totalitarian Constitution, constitutes a serious threat to the dream of a democratic America, which must force the free beings of the continent to stop the global autocratic project of leading us from civilization to barbarism.

IMF statement does not reflect Nicaraguan reality

The Nicaraguan Democratic Concertation (CDN) is concerned about the statement that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission issued on November 22nd in the framework of Article IV during the 2024 consultation for Nicaragua, but we understand that the preliminary conclusions are the first step that will be followed by the analysis of the technical team and the discussions of the executive directors.

It should be noted that during the mission’s stay, the General Directorate of State Contracting (DGCE) issued two circulars, instructing State institutions to prioritize the purchase of technology, equipment and machinery from Chinese manufacturers, over other origins, and on November 19, the Ortega Murillo regime sent to the National Assembly a proposal for partial constitutional reform that is actually a total reform, eliminating the nation’s democratic model.

The CDN hopes that in the directors’ discussions and during the drafting of the final report, it will be considered that it is not possible to separate political conditions from economic behavior. Continued human rights violations, impunity for crimes against humanity, the dismantling of democratic institutions, and the arbitrary cancellation of 80 percent of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), including business associations, will affect Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) sooner rather than later.

Reform imposes totalitarian model

The mission recommended improving the rule of law and judicial independence, but the regime responded with measures to evade personal sanctions, which jeopardize international transactions and may have devastating effects on the banking system and the receipt of remittances. The new Constitution, which eliminates the rule of law and the prohibition of torture, imposes a regressive totalitarian human rights model.

The winners of the 2024 Nobel Prize in economics argue that institutions have a crucial impact on economic development. Their research distinguishes between inclusive institutions that promote economic and political participation and sustained growth, and extractive ones that concentrate power and hinder development. The constitutional reform approved in the first legislature is a clear example of regression towards an exclusionary and extractive institutionality.

It is incomprehensible that the IMF mission statement praised the economic performance and “prudent” policies, three days after the regime sent to the Legislative power the new Constitution, which subordinates the powers of the State to the co-governing couple, puts an end to the balance of powers and eliminates the checks and balances that should work in democracies.

The IMF team’s statement predicts that in 2025 public investment will sustain economic growth, but does not consider that after the withdrawal of the main sources of external financing, the Public Investment Program depends mostly on tax collection, whose growth is the result of a voracity that keeps companies subjected to blackmail and abusive charges.

Does not analyze effects that will cause mass migration

The mission did not analyze the structure of public spending, where a significant part is allocated to repressive forces, sacrificing crucial expenditures in education and health, nor did it delve into the economic and social effects that the accumulated migration of close to 20 percent of the population will cause in the medium and long term.

In addition, he noted that regulatory progress on money laundering lacks effective implementation. But this effort pales in comparison with the deteriorating environment, where, according to international indicators, corruption and lack of transparency are on the rise.

The DGCE circulars are a flagrant violation of the “Central American Preference” established in the Treaty of Managua, the Guatemala Protocol, the DR-Cafta, the Association Agreement between Central America and the European Union (AA) and other Free Trade Agreements (FTA) with Mexico, Canada, Colombia, Panama and Chile. Through discriminatory measures, they infringe on the commitments acquired in these agreements and open the possibility of trade conflicts that will have repercussions on economic performance. 

IMF statement is far from reality

The reform to the Migration and Alien Law reaffirms the violations of human rights conventions and the Statute of Stateless Persons by legalizing the withdrawal of nationality and preventing the return of migrants.

The CDN considers that the IMF mission statement was detached from reality by omitting information relevant to the analysis of the economy. Their technical capacity was affected by the elimination of the business and economic organizations with which they previously maintained useful channels of communication.

We hope that the final report will include updated information, analysis from independent economists and recommendations from international organizations such as the International Labor Organization (ILO) regarding the business climate for a more realistic assessment of the situation in Nicaragua.