Nicaragua has been intensifying repression under the Daniel Ortega-Rosario Murillo regime, a key aspect being Russia’s Managua Training Center (RTC), which is instrumental for the persecution of voices critical of the regime, Spanish daily El País reported.
Eliseo Núñez, a former Nicaraguan opposition lawmaker in exile in Costa Rica, told Diálogo on June 10 that “during the 2018 repression, foreign-looking anti-riot chiefs and squads were photographed, including Russian agents of very fair complexion and greater corpulence, identifiable by their uniforms and boots different from those of the PNN [Nicaraguan National Police].”
The RTC of Russia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs has been operating in Nicaragua since 2017, training Nicaraguan agents with the “Russian authoritarian government’s oppression manual,” the U.S. Treasury Department said in a May 15 statement. In addition to training the PNN, the Russian Ministry offers specialized courses to other countries in the region.
As part of the Managua-Moscow alliance, Russian officials at the RTC instruct members of the PNN in brutal repressive tactics. These trainings are essential for the police to carry out actions of repression and tyrannical persecution against the Nicaraguan people, the statement added.
It also details that the RTC supports the PNN in maintaining a cycle of violent oppression in the country, participating in extrajudicial executions, use of live ammunition against peaceful protests, and death squads, perpetuating a state of terror and repression.
Repressive model
The repressive model in Nicaragua consists of two parts. First, the legislative part: In 2020 several laws similar to Russian laws were passed. These include the law on foreign agents, the law on cybercrimes, and the law on treason. These decrees, known as the “combo of laws,” are used to capture opponents, Núñez said.
Second, these laws are part of the “Russian repression manual” adapted to the Nicaraguan context, he added. Although adapted to the local reality, the laws in Nicaragua are stricter. Unlike in Russia, where some kind of demonstration is still possible, in Nicaragua this possibility has been eliminated.
“The Ortega-Murillo are creating a network of complicity with military and police, following the Russian repression manual that includes interventions, repressive methods, control of communications, and the use of anti-money laundering mechanisms to repress,” Núñez said. “This model involves constant surveillance and sporadic arrests, to show that repression is still active.”
This repression dismantles all types of political and social organizations in Nicaragua, affecting nongovernmental organizations, media, political parties, universities, peasant movements, environmentalists, feminists, critical businessmen, and even recently the Catholic Church, El País reported.
Sanctions
On May 15, the U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on the Russian Training Center in Managua for contributing to the repression of the Nicaraguan people by unjustly arresting and imprisoning people for expressing dissent, or peacefully exercising their human rights and fundamental freedoms.
This military training complex has been designated, according to the Treasury statement, “for having assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support, or goods or services in support of the PNN. Russia financed the RTC for the alleged purpose of combating drug trafficking.”
The Treasury recalls that it had already imposed sanctions on the PNN in 2020, for its direct or indirect participation in significant acts of violence and serious human rights abuses, against individuals who participated in the demonstrations that began in Nicaragua in April 2018, demanding the end of the Ortega-Murillo regime.
“The United States is employing the available resources at its disposal with respect to the imposition of sanctions, to highlight the human rights violator’s situation, particularly in the case of the RTC, although its impact may be limited,” Núñez said. “The real concern lies with Ortega and his family, who maintain a firm grip on power.”
Humberto Ortega
Since mid-May, the PNN has been guarding the house of General (ret.) Humberto Ortega, brother of Daniel Ortega and former head of the Nicaraguan Army, after he gave an interview to Argentine news site Infobae in which he criticized his brother’s dictatorship, the BBC reported.
“We are heading for disaster even though it seems that things are fine,” Gen. Ortega told Infobae on May 19. “Since the 2018 crisis communication is closed, democratic exercise is not allowed through the imposition of a police regime, which gives rise to the authoritarian and anti-democratic tendency of the current regime.”
“Humberto Ortega is imprisoned in his residence without access to his personal medical equipment. He is being attended by cardiologists sympathetic to the regime,” Nuñez said. “Although this case can be interpreted as an example that no one is safe from reprisals by the regime, it is more related to succession of power.”
As long as Ortega and his family remain in power in Nicaragua, Russian influence will persist, and regional stability will be at risk. “There are no half-baked solutions; Ortega must resign to stop this repression,” concluded Núñez.
