The United Nations human rights chief has condemned Nicaragua’s escalating crackdown on civil and political rights, days after President Daniel Ortega announced a plan to block elections and shut out the opposition.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said on Wednesday that the “latest developments further deepen the severe restrictions on fundamental freedoms, the dismantling of civic space, and the steady erosion of the rule of law” in the Central American country.
Ortega, a former leftist fighter who has ruled Nicaragua for almost two decades alongside his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, said on Sunday that “there won’t be elections” in the country, a move that would remove any prospect of a challenge to the couple’s rule.
General elections were due in November, but constitutional reforms passed 18 months ago extended the presidential term from 5 to 6 years, pushing the vote back to 2027.
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