Central America
Nicaragua’s Ortega proposes law to control international organizations and cooperation
Nicaragua’s President, Daniel Ortega, presented a law on Tuesday to control the work of international organizations, cooperation agencies, and diplomatic missions in the country, according to a document released by Nicaraguan media in exile, which was accessed by AFP.
The proposal was submitted to Congress, which is controlled by the government, as part of a series of laws accompanying a constitutional reform passed last Friday that grants Ortega and his wife Rosario Murillo absolute control over the Nicaraguan state.
The initiative states that international cooperation “must have the consent and authorization of the government, both initially and during its implementation.”
It also stipulates that the work of these organizations “must be carried out without political, economic, social, or cultural conditions,” while respecting “national sovereignty, independence, and self-determination.”
The law expressly prohibits any type of “interference in Nicaragua’s internal affairs.”
International cooperation “must align with national priorities and be in accordance with the plans, programs, and national strategies set by the government,” the document highlights.
With this reform, Ortega further consolidates his control over international entities after reforming the “Foreign Agents” and “Control of Non-Profit Organizations” laws, which require NGOs to work only in “partnership alliances” with state entities.
Since the protests against Ortega in 2018, which he and Murillo claimed were supported by NGOs and the Catholic Church, more than 5,300 organizations have been shut down by the government. Dozens of clerics from the Church were imprisoned and later expelled to the Vatican, the United States, and other countries.
Ortega, a 78-year-old former guerrilla who ruled Nicaragua in the 1980s and has been in power since 2007, claims the protests, which according to the UN left more than 300 dead, were an attempted coup sponsored by Washington.
Thousands of Nicaraguans have fled into exile, and about 450 politicians, businesspeople, intellectuals, and artists have been stripped of their nationality in recent years, accused of “treason to the homeland.”
Central America
Arévalo calls corruption the “fuel of inequality” and reaffirms commitment to public transparency
Guatemala’s President, Bernardo Arévalo, stated on Friday that corruption is “the food of misery” in his country and reaffirmed his government’s commitment to continuing to strengthen public spending transparency.
During the first anniversary of the National Commission Against Corruption (CNC) established by his administration, the president expressed his satisfaction with the progress made.
“The road has been difficult,” he said, “but I am greatly satisfied with the fight against corruption, which is the fuel of inequality and the food of misery,” the president declared before members of the international community and government officials.
Arévalo also mentioned that the people who elected him in 2023 for a four-year term that began on January 14, 2024, “demand that we combat corruption.”
Central America
Zúñiga hopes CIDH experts can help investigate intellectual authors of Berta Cáceres’ murder
Bertha Zúñiga, daughter of the murdered Honduran environmentalist Berta Cáceres, expressed her hope on Friday to EFE that the expert group appointed by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (CIDH) will help investigate the authorship of the crime to “heal the wounds” and rebuild the social fabric in indigenous communities affected by the hydroelectric project her mother opposed.
The Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts (GIEI) represents an “effort to exhaust the investigations” into the responsibilities of all individuals involved in Cáceres’ murder, as well as in the “violence suffered” from the implementation of the Agua Zarca hydroelectric project, led by the company Desarrollos Energéticos S.A. (DESA), emphasized Zúñiga.
“We hope that, with the collaboration of the prosecutorial entities, (the experts) will effectively collaborate to move forward on what we have proposed and demanded for many years: formally requiring the intellectual authors of this crime and analyzing the related crimes,” including corruption and other violations, as well as proposing a comprehensive reparation plan for the victims of the hydroelectric project,” Zúñiga explained.
The CIDH appointed a group of four experts from Argentina, Chile, the United States, and Guatemala on Friday to provide technical assistance to Honduras in investigating the intellectual authorship of Cáceres’ murder, which occurred on March 2, 2016, while she was sleeping in her home in La Esperanza, despite the multiple death threats she had reported due to her opposition to the Agua Zarca project.
Central America
Nicaragua’s family confinement program: 7.18% of released prisoners reoffend
Nicaraguan authorities have released a total of 48,964 common prisoners under the family confinement regime over the past ten years, with 7.18% of them reoffending by committing at least one crime, according to the country’s vice president, Rosario Murillo.
Murillo, who is also the wife of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and appointed “co-president” in a reform to the Constitution, stated through official media that “7.18% are individuals who have reoffended in criminal activity from 2015 to today, February 14, 2025.”
This means that 3,515 out of the 48,964 common prisoners with final sentences who have been granted family confinement privileges have returned to criminal activity, according to the report.
The early release of common prisoners has faced criticism, particularly from feminist organizations, who argue that these benefits have contributed to an increase in femicides and general crime in Nicaragua.
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