The European Union condemns the Ortega regime in Nicaragua

Translated by Giulia Girardi 

On June 18th, 2026, the European Parliament stated that Nicaragua must end its systemic repression and release all political prisoners, including Carlos Brenes and Salvador del Socorro Martínez Aburto.

The EU against the Repression of the Ortega Regime

The European Parliament strongly condemned the systemic repression carried out by the Ortega-Murillo regime, including arbitrary detentions, enforced disappearances, and crimes against humanity. They also condemned the persecution of Indigenous communities and the Catholic Church. The MEPs called on the Council and the European Commission to suspend the EU-Central America Association Agreement, ensuring that no EU funds can contribute to strengthening the regime.

From the Foundational Elections to Dictatorship: The Emergence of the Regime

In 1990, Nicaragua held its foundational elections, which marked the beginning of political pluralism and the end of the civil war between the Sandinistas and the Contras. In 1996, Arnoldo Alemán — representing the Constitutional Liberal Party (PLC), won the presidential election. In 2000, he reached an agreement with Ortega, known as “El Pacto”, which led to the division of power and to the politicisation of the magistrature and the Supreme Electoral Council, as well as changes to the electoral law, including lowering the percentage of votes required to win the presidency during the first electoral round. Due to the fragmentation of the liberal opposition, Ortega won the 2006 presidential election. Two years later, this was followed by an authoritarian turn: the 2008 municipal elections marked the end of competitive elections and the beginning of an electoral authoritarian regime. In 2016, the final dismantling of the parliamentary opposition took place when the electoral court removed 28 regularly elected opposition lawmakers from the legisalture.

Social Peace and the 2018 National Protests

Ortega was able to maintain social peace from 2007 to 2018 through an alliance with the country’s economic elites, which enabled him to ensure macroeconomic stability and maintain control over the trade unions. The period of social peace was also sustained by the emergence of a Sadinista business elite closely aligned with the government. Throughout this period, Ortega relied on welfare-oriented social programmes targeted at low-income groups, using clientelist distribution networks to cultivate and maintain popular support. This period of social peace came to an end in April 2018, when large-scale student protests initially erupted in response to a proposed pension reform. The demonstrations subsequently evolved into a nationwide uprising against Ortega. The regime criminalised the protests by portraying the demonstrators as terrorists and responded with a severe repression campaign carried out by the police and pro-government, paramilitary groups.

The 2025 Constitutional Reform: The establishment of a Co-Presidential System

In February 2025, Nicaragua’s Parliament ratified a constitutional reform that grants greater power to President Daniel Ortega and his wife, Rosario Murillo. The reform has extended the presidential term from five to six years and transforms the roles of vice presidents and presidents into those of co-presidents. Under tis new reform, the co-presidents are granted control over the legislative, juridicial, and electoral branches of government. Critics of the Ortega-Murillo regime argue that the reform has effectively legalised the absolute power that had already been exercised in the previous years. Dora María Téllez, a former Sandinista guerrilla leader, stated that the reform not only gives the dictatorship constitutional status but also paves the way for Ortega’s sucession. She further argued that granting co-presidents the power to appoint vice presidents would pave the way for Ortega and Murillo's children to be constitutionally integrated into the line of succession.

The Regime's Repression: State Violence and Denied Rights

In repressing the April 2018 protests, the police, military, and pro-government paramilitary groups used lethal weapons, demonstrating that their objective extended beyond crowd control to the deliberate use of violence to intimidate and instil fear. The detention of the opponents, civil society leaders, and journalists have become a systematic practice. The right to fair trial has been menaced by political interference, with judges issuing convictions in line with directives from the presidency. Within prisons, detainees are subject to physical and psychological torture during interrogations. These practices include rape, beatings, electric shocks, and prolonged isolation. The ruling Sndinista party has also extended its control over public institutions through the "Victory Units”, which function as intelligence-gathering networks that monitor individuals perceived as hostile to the regime. This powerful, well-established network identifies peoples targeted for arrest and expulsion.

A key aspect of the regime’s repression is its policy of expelling opponents and preventing their return to Nicaragua, as demonstrated by the deportation of 135 detainees to Guatemala in September 2024. These actions, combined with the refusal to renew passports for those living abroad, have effectively left vistas in a state of statelessness, depriving them of fundamental civil rights and hindering their ability to seek political asylum. Since December 2018, the regime has systematically seized the assets and frozen the bank accounts of opposition figures. The Ortega regime’s repression has extended beyond Nicaragua’s borders, with dissidents increasingly targeted even while in exile. In June 2025, Roberto Samcam, a retired Nicaraguan army major and a prominent opponent of the Ortega regime, was killed in Costa Rica. Samcam’s wife, Claudia Vargas, stated that the murderer approached him disguised as delivery workers and arrived at the scene on a motorcycle.

The UN’s Call Investigate Ortega and Murillo for the Crimes Committed

The UN report has reiterated the need for Ortega and Murillo — alongside the senior state officials and Sandinista party leaders, to be subjected to juridicial investigations for the crimes committed. The international community must take decisive action to protect Nicaraguans in exile by facilitating their access to political asylum. The Ortega regime has refused collaboration, and has denied access to the country to UN experts: No international human rights observers have been allowed to enter Nicaragua since 2018. The European Union, as well as countries like the United States and Canada, continue to impose targeted sanctions on dozens of pro-regime senior officials considered responsible for the erosion of democracy and the rule of law in Nicaragua. 

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