UN details Nicaragua government's intensifying violent crackdown on rights

By David Alire Garcia

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - A report from the United Nations released on Tuesday detailed alleged crimes committed by the government of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, including an intensifying crackdown on dissent enforced with a new wave of arbitrary arrests and torture.

Based on 120 interviews with what the U.N. human rights office describes as victims and witnesses of human rights abuses, as well as civil society groups, the report covers just the 12-month period that ended in May. The latest crackdown began over six years ago.

The U.N. report provided detailed descriptions of arbitrary detentions, at least two documented enforced disappearances, as well as how freedom of expression and association have been routinely undermined during the period.

Citing civil society reports, the report asserts that 131 perceived Ortega opponents have been arbitrarily detained as of last May, marking a sharp increase compared to 54 a year earlier.

It notes that another 10 arbitrary arrests were carried out in June and July.

The report also includes grisly details of a dozen cases of alleged torture and mistreatment of detainees allegedly committed by the government's security apparatus, including rapes and electric shocks. It notes that three men detained reported strangulation of their testicles.

Interviewed torture survivors "showed visible signs of post-traumatic stress disorder," according to the report.

"Detainees and their families were warned against speaking out about torture or conditions of detention and threatened with losing visiting rights," it added.

Vice President Rosario Murillo, the government's spokesperson and Ortega's wife, did not immediately respond to written questions about the report's findings.

Ortega's government in the past has ignored reports from the U.N. and the Organization of American States, which it says are part of an international campaign against it.

In public appearances, Ortega has criticized some of his domestic adversaries as mercenaries seeking to overthrow his government.

After mass anti-government street protests broke out in 2018, Ortega's security forces launched a violent counterattack in which more than 300 civilians were killed, according to rights groups and international observers.

Since then, the government has arrested or expelled scores of Catholic priests, among the crackdown's most high-profile targets, in addition to shuttering several thousand civil society groups, most accused of financial crimes.

Critics of Ortega argue he has sought to silence, remove or otherwise repress all voices perceived to be hostile to his government.

A former Marxist rebel and Cold War-era U.S.-antagonist, Ortega came to power in 1979 after deposing a right-wing family dictatorship. He is now serving his fourth consecutive term as president.

(Reporting by David Alire Garcia; Editing by Marguerita Choy)