Amnesty International Report 1996 - Nicaragua

At least 13 people were killed in circumstances suggesting that they may have been extrajudicially executed. Demonstrators were beaten by police during public protests and four people were killed. There was a period of conflict between the executive and legislative powers following President Violeta Barrios de Chamorro's rejection of the reforms to the 1987 Constitution approved by the National Assembly in February. The disagreement led to serious problems in the running of the country and the paralysis of the Supreme Court of Justice. This resulted in further deterioration of prison conditions, exacerbated by delays in judicial procedures. In May the Court overturned the reforms (a decision ignored by the National Assembly), which left the country with two constitutions. The conflict was formally resolved in July following talks between the parties sponsored by Cardinal Miguel Obando y Bravo. In February General Humberto Ortega was replaced by General Joaquín Cuadra Lacayo as head of the army. In May the Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional (FSLN), Sandinista National Liberation Front, which led the previous government, split into two factions with the creation of the Movimiento de Renovación Sandinista (MRS), Sandinista Renovation Movement, led by former Vice-President Sergio Ramírez. At least 13 people died in circumstances suggesting they may have been extrajudicially executed. On 6 January, 13 recontras (former members of the Nicaraguan Resistance or "contra" who had fought against the previous Sandinista government), including one woman, were killed in Cuesta La Marañosa, Wiwili, department of Jinoteca, in a shooting incident which appeared to have been a massacre perpetrated by the army. Two soldiers were also killed. The 13, who reportedly belonged to a group called the Meza Band, were apparently being transported by lorry to a military base for demobilization. The police and the army claimed that soldiers were forced to shoot back when the recontras fired at the driver and accompanying soldiers. The National Assembly's Commission on Human Rights and Peace, which investigated the deaths, found irregularities which suggested that the army was responsible for the deaths. The Jinoteca district criminal judge, María Barcena Molina, dismissed the case against 23 soldiers. She concluded that the evidence was insufficient to prove criminal conduct by the soldiers. Human rights organizations, however, criticized her decision which they considered had been reached after superficial investigations which ignored the report of the National Assembly's Commission on Human Rights and Peace. They also criticized the Attorney General's Office for its role in the judicial process. Many people were arrested and beaten by police in May, during public demonstrations to protest at the country's deteriorating social and economic conditions. On 16 May during a demonstration in Portezuelo, Managua, and nearby neighbourhoods, one man was shot in the leg by police. Thirteen other demonstrators were detained and beaten by the police, but all were released the following day without charge. The following day around 200 people participated in a demonstration in Rubenia District, Managua, near the Transport Cooperative Parrales Vallejos. During the police operation to disperse the demonstration, two members of the transport cooperative, Franklin Benito Borge Velásquez and Enrique Montenegro Estrada, were shot and later died. A police officer was also killed. An investigation undertaken by the non-governmental Nicaraguan Centre for Human Rights concluded that the police had not tried to persuade demonstrators to disperse but had endangered life and safety, and had targeted trade union leaders to dissuade union members from participating in protests. The investigation also found that the police had arbitrarily detained people not participating in the protest. By contrast, a government-formed commission reported in June that the demonstrators had provoked the police and that exchanges of gunfire had led to the deaths. The impartiality of this report was questioned by human rights organizations because one of the commission's members was the head of the Division for Internal Affairs of the National Police. In December, during student demonstrations demanding funds for universities from the national budget, one student and one university worker were killed. According to reports, during a clash between students and police, tear-gas grenades and shots were fired; Ernesto Porfirio Díaz, a university worker, was shot in the head and died. Jerónimo Urbina, a third-year student, was seriously injured and died a week later. Over 40 people were injured and some 30 students were arrested but later released without charge. In January the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, having looked at all the preliminary objections submitted by the government in the case of Jean Paul Genie, killed in 1990 by escorts of General Humberto Ortega (see Amnesty International Reports 1993, 1994 and 1995), resolved that the Court had jurisdiction over the case and rejected most of the preliminary objections. The Court resolved to continue hearing the case, which was pending at the end of the year. In December Amnesty International wrote to President Chamorro requesting information about any investigation undertaken into the incidents in May in Portezuelo and Rubenia and expressing concern about the reported inadequacies of the investigation into the killings at La Marañosa.