Fatal Victims Registry: Timeline

Based on the permanent monitoring of Nicaragua, the Commission has documented six stages or phases of state repression under different modalities and intensities from April 18, 2018, to June 2021.

In this timeline, the IACHR presents the main patterns of human rights violations that have characterized these stages, some of the most relevant events in the context of the human rights crisis in Nicaragua, as well as the activities carried out by the IACHR, through MESENI, since April 2018.

 






The IACHR registers 355 people who died in the context of the human rights crisis in Nicaragua from April 18, 2018, to June 2019

April 2018

May 2018

June 2018

July 2018

August 2018

September 2018

October 2018

January 2019

May 2019

June 2019


FIRST STAGE OF THE REPRESSION

April – June 2018
Manifestacion Catedral – Crédito: Oscar Sánchez Manifestacion Catedral – Crédito: Oscar Sánchez

In this first stage, the IACHR recorded attacks on mass demonstrations, disproportionate use of force by the National Police, hooded and armed parapolice groups, massive arrests, hundreds of dead and injured people, and installation of roadblocks and barricades.

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May – June 2018

The IACHR makes a working visit to Nicaragua and issues first recommendations to the State of Nicaragua. In June, he announced the creation of the Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts for Nicaragua (GIEI) and installed the Special Monitoring Mechanism for Nicaragua (MESENI).

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SECOND STAGE OF THE REPRESSION

July 2018
Monimbo Masaya paramilitares – Crédito Oscar Sánchez Monimbo Masaya paramilitares – Crédito Oscar Sánchez

"Operación limpieza", an operative of the National Police with the participation of armed parapolice with the aim of dismantling roadblocks and barricades installed by the Nicaraguan population to protect themselves from attacks. The repression deployed in this stage had very relevant lethal effects, with 90 people being murdered, representing 25.2% of the total fatalities of the crisis to date.

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THIRD STAGE OF THE REPRESSION

August – September 2018

In August 2018, the Commission identified a third phase of the repression that spans from August to November 2018, consisting mainly of the selective and massive persecution and criminalization of protesters, human rights defenders, students, social leaders, and opponents of the government, including media workers opposed to the government, under unfounded and disproportionate charges such as terrorism, irregularities in access to justice, the right to defense and due process for the accused; as well as violations of the human rights of persons deprived of liberty and their families.

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Octuber – November 2018

From October 14 to 18, 2018, the IACHR conducted a working visit to Costa Rica for the purpose of monitoring the situation of Nicaraguan asylum seekers and persons in need of international protection who have been forced to flee Nicaragua in the protection of their freedom and integrity and in order to seek international protection in Costa Rica.

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FOURTH STAGE OF THE REPRESSION

December 2018 - 2019
Crédito: EFE Crédito: EFE

Closure of democratic spaces and a prolonged weakening of democratic institutions in Nicaragua, which has resulted in the perpetuation of the human rights crisis in the country, as well as in the generation of a situation of structural impunity concerning the serious human rights violations committed.

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2019
Crédito: Inti Ocon/AFP/Getty Images Crédito: Inti Ocon/AFP/Getty Images

Prolonged weakening of democratic institutions, the perpetuation of the human rights crisis, as well as the generation of a situation of structural impunity with respect to the serious human rights violations committed in the framework of the protests.

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FIFTH STAGE OF THE REPRESSION

2020

This new repressive stage would represent the most intense and systematic attack on public freedoms that occurred since the beginning of the 2018 crisis and would have the purpose of maintaining the complete closure of democratic spaces in the country.

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SIXTH STAGE OF THE REPRESSION
- Jan - Jun 2021 -

2021

In the electoral context in Nicaragua, the IACHR registers an increase in arrests and trials of people identified as political opponents, application of the Law for the Defense of the Rights of the People to Independence, Sovereignty, and Self-Determination for Peace, No. 1055.

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