Amnesty International Report 2002 - Nicaragua

Republic of Nicaragua
Head of state and government: Arnoldo Alemán Lacayo
Capital: Managua
Population: 5.2 million
Official language: Spanish
Death penalty: abolitionist for all crimes

Background

A general election was held in November. Enrique Bolaños, of the ruling Partido Liberal Constitucionalista (PLC), Constitutionalist Liberal Party, was elected President and was due to take office in January 2002. Changes to the electoral rules agreed in 1999 between the PLC and the opposition Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional (FSLN), Sandinista National Liberation Front, prevented smaller parties from presenting candidates or, if they did not gain a specified percentage of votes in the election, forced them to disband. The agreement also guaranteed seats in the National Assembly for outgoing President Arnoldo Alemán – ensuring impunity for human rights violations or accusations of corruption during his term in office – and for the candidate who came second, FSLN leader Daniel Ortega.

Human rights defenders

Threats against and harassment of human rights defenders continued.

• The government continued to harass Dorothy Granada, a US nurse in her 70s. It had alleged in 2000 that the clinic where she worked had, among other things, carried out abortions and treated members of an armed group of ex-soldiers, the Frente Unido Andrés Castro (FUAC), Andrés Castro United Front. Despite repeated defeats before the courts and a resolution in her support by the Human Rights Procurator's Office, the government continued accusing her of unlawful activities and attempting to deport her. In February she came out of hiding after a deportation order against her was lifted. However, a Supreme Court ruling was still pending – on the government's appeal against a December 2000 court decision that she was a legal resident – when her residence permit expired in September and she had to leave the country.
• The government intensified its smear campaign against Vilma Núñez de Escorcia, president of the Centro Nicaragüense de Derechos Humanos (CENIDH), Nicaraguan Centre for Human Rights. Police investigations into repeated telephone death threats against her were reportedly inadequate. The authorities repeated claims that CENIDH had links with FUAC. However, in May the Attorney General officially dismissed the government's claims as unfounded.

• In February Carlos Adolfo García Berríos was reported to have been arbitrarily detained and beaten, while handcuffed, in a police vehicle. He suffered cuts to his face and head.
• In May, villagers from Mulukukú denounced excessive use of force during police operations following community disturbances in April in which a policeman was killed. According to reports, riot police entered the community before daybreak, firing tear gas, forcing people out of their homes and beating them. A number of children were said to have been severely affected by tear gas.

• Nicaragua: Open letter to presidential candidates (AI Index: AMR 43/004/2001)