Letter on Nicaragua to EU-CELAC summit participants

Note: Since its release on July 14, this letter has been updated to reflect additional signatories now totaling 178 people. The updated list of signatories is appended.

Re. Addressing human rights crisis in Nicaragua during the EU-CELAC Summit

We, the undersigned victims of the Nicaraguan government, and national and international non-governmental organizations working on the country, are writing to urge you to prioritize initiatives to address the situation in Nicaragua on the occasion of the forthcoming European Union (EU) – Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) summit scheduled for July 17th and 18th in Brussels. Particularly, we urge you to propose, during the summit or on its margins, the establishment of a “Group of Friends of the Nicaragua People” to ensure an effective, cross-regional, and high-level response to the ongoing human rights crisis in Nicaragua.

We hope that the Summit will be an opportunity to discuss pressing human rights challenges in countries in Europe and in the Latin America and the Caribbean region, such as democratic backsliding, escalating violence and insecurity, and abuses against migrants and asylum seekers.

In recent years, few countries in the region have witnessed the consolidation of authoritarian rule and systematic assaults on independent media and the dismantling of civil society to the extent observed in Nicaragua.

A damning report released in early March by the United Nations Group of Human Rights Experts on Nicaragua found reasonable grounds to conclude that the authorities have committed crimes against humanity, including murder, imprisonment, torture, sexual violence, forced deportation, and persecution on political grounds.[1]

Sixty-four people remain arbitrarily detained in Nicaragua, according to local rights groups, and the government has recently stripped 317 critics of their nationality and confiscated their assets.[2] It has also dramatically restricted civic space, including by canceling the legal status of over 3,500 nongovernmental organizations since 2018.[3] The government has intensified its attacks against the Catholic Church, its priests and bishops, including Bishop Rolando Alvarez, who was arbitrarily sentenced to 26 years in prison. Additionally, no international monitors have been allowed to enter the country since the government expelled the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in late 2018.[4]

We welcome the recent statements from governments in Latin America and the European External Action Service (EEAS) publicly condemning these abuses.[5] However, we regret that the international community’s response has so far lacked the necessary coordination to effectively ensure steps towards a rights-respecting democracy and justice for victims.

We urge governments in Latin America, the EU and its member states, to establish a “Group of Friends for the Nicaraguan People” made up of governments across the political spectrum, to contribute to a transition toward democracy. The Group should conduct high-level meetings to design, in consultation with Nicaraguan civil society groups and other relevant stakeholders, a strategy of concerted peaceful, private and public actions to provide pathways for the release of political prisoners and accountability, and to push for the realization of free and fair elections as soon as possible.

While we welcome the existence of a Working Group on Nicaragua within the Organization of American States (OAS), we believe that the gravity of this crisis requires higher-level action. We also believe that these efforts could benefit from the participation of the EEAS or EU member states.

We hope that your government can consider these recommendations as part of your broader effort to promote human rights in Nicaragua.

For more information about this proposal and its relevance to the human rights situation in Nicaragua, please contact americas@hrw.org.

We thank you for your attention to these pressing issues.

Sincerely,

List of signatories:

1. Sergio Ramírez
2. Gioconda Belli
3. Carlos Fernando Chamorro
4. Félix Maradiaga
5. Juan Sebastián Chamorro García
6. Medardo Mairena Sequeira
7. Dora María Téllez Argüello
8. Mónica Baltodano Marcenaro
9. Juan Lorenzo Holmann Chamorro
10. Sofía Isabel Montenegro Alarcón
11. Tamara Davila Rivas
12. Wilfredo Miranda Aburto
13. Bianca Jagger
14. Suyen Barahona
15. Violeta Granera Padilla
16. Andrea Margarita Del Carmen
17. Esteban Paniagua Espinoza
18. Gabriel Lopez Del Carmen
19. Luis Carrión
20. Loyda Valle
21. José Noel Talavera Arauz
22. Esterlin Soriano Gonzalez
23. Dulce María Porras Aguilar
24. Ana Quirós Víquez
25. Patricia Orozco
26. Berta Valle
27. Lenyn Ernesto Rojas Campos
28. Anibal E Toruño
29. Oscar Ricardo Rojas Campos
30. Victoria Cardenas
31. Jesús Tefel Amador
32. Samantha Jirón
33. Olama Hurtado Chamorro
34. Kevin Solís Movimiento Monte Verde
35. José Antonio Peraza Collado
36. Luis Enrique Meza Lagos
37. Irving Larios
38. Roger Reyes
39. Edipcia Dubón
40. José Angel González Escobar
41. Enrique Sáenz
42. Eliseo Fabio Nuñez Morales
43. Arturo Mcfields 
44. Elmer Rivas
45. Cindy Regidor
46. Mauricio Diaz
47. Carlos Salinas Maldonado
48. Azahalia Solis Román
49. Jose Bernard Pallais Arana
50. Kevin Antonio Zamora Delgado
51. María Oviedo
52. Alfredo Carlos Gutiérrez Izquierdo
53. Roxana Zamora
54. Freddy Alberto Navas López
55. José Gadiel Sequeira Zamora
56. Freddy Nolasco Zeledón Castillo
57. Rodolfo Alexander Zamora Sandoval
58. María Esther González Vega
59. Brayan Kessler Alemán
60. Michael Rodrigo Samorio Anderson
61. José Alejandro Quintanilla Hernández
62. Hans Camacho Chévez
63. Yoel Ibzan Sandino Ibarra
64. Heidy Walkiria Ortega
65. Carlos Raúl Valle Guerrero
66. Karla Patricia Vega Canales
67. María Asunción Moreno
68. Marcos Antonio Fletes
69. Norman Caldera
70. Juan Carlos Gutiérrez Soto
71. Gema Serrano Morales
72. Héctor Ernesto Mairena
73. Tifani Roberts
74. Elvira Cuadra Lira
75. Cristhian Fajardo
76. Yunova Acosta
77. Roberto Samcam Ruiz
78. Jennyfer Ortiz Castillo
79. Silvia Gutiérrez Pinto
80. Issa Moisés Hassan
81. Francisco José López González
82. Manuel Jacinto Diaz Morales
83. Francisca Ramírez Torrez
84. Luis Galeano
85. Lucía Pineda Ubau
86. Lesther Alemán
87. Max Jeréz
88. Camilo De Castro
89. José Somarriba Mendoza
90. Luis Ernaldo Obando Granja
91. Luciano García Mejía
92. Ligia Gómez
93. Augusto Ezequiel Calero Lazo
94. Ricardo Humberto Baltodano Marcenaro
95. Enrique Martínez
96. Raúl Llanos
97. David Quintana
98. Carlos Alberto Bonilla López
99. Gonzalo Carrión Maradiaga
100. Francisco Javier Hernández Morales
101. José Mauricio Ubeda
102. Julia Cristina Hernández Arévalo
103. Jonathan Andrés Lacayo
104. Wendy Molina
105. Oscar René Vargas
106. Julio Ricardo Hernández
107. Sandra Del Carmen Acevedo De Lara
108. Iris Magaly Lagos
109. Yubrank Suazo H.
110. Azucena Del Carmen Lopez Garcia
111. Daisy George West
112. Rhanfis José Silva Rivera
113. Juan Carlos Baquedano
114. Alex Aguirre
115. María Cecilia Zeledón Gutiérrez
116. Norlan Josue Cardenas Ortiz
117. Silvia Salmerón
118. Luis Manuel Marchena Bogran
119. Martha Del Socorro Uvilla
120. Melvin Antonio Peralta
121. Tatiana Madriz
122. Francisco Javier Pineda Guatemala
123. Marlon Medina Robleto
124. Francisco Sanabria
125. Alexa Gisell Zamora Arana
126. Moisés Alfredo Leiva Chavarría
127. Yadira Córdoba
128. Victor Manuel Ríos Betancour Uppn
129. Fernando Antonio Hernández Rivera
130. Gladys López
131. Edgard A. Blanco
132. Julio López Campos
133. Sofia Del Socorro Mayorga González
134. Henry Ruiz Condega
135. Sara Henríquez
136. Danny De Los Ángeles García GGonzález
137. Guisella Ortega
138. Orlando Campos Correa
139. Grethel Gómez
140. Daniel Esquivel Artola
141. María Teresa Blandón Gadea
142. Yader Morazán
143. Andrés Marenco
144. Susana López
145. Rosalía Miller
146. Amaru Ruiz Alemán
147. Aura Lila Beteta**
148. Miguel Mendoza**
149. Julio Carrasco**
150. Pablo Cuevas**
151. Ana Margarita Vijil**
152. Muammar Vado Gonzalez**
153. Damaris Rostran**
154. María Esperanza Sanchez Garcia**
155. Rafael Enrique Solis Cerda**
156. Luis Ramirez**
157. Adolfo García Ramírez**
158. Ernesto Medina Sandino**

*20 others signed the letter anonymously due to security concerns

**Post-launch signers that joined this letter after its initial release on July 14, 2023

Nicaraguan human rights organizations:

1. Unidad de Registro (UdR)
2. Colectivo de Derechos Humanos Nicaragua Nunca Más
3. Comisión Permanente de Derechos Humanos (CPDH)
4. Asociación de Médicos Exiliados Nicaragüenses (AMEN)
5. Coordinadora Universitaria por la Democracia y la Justicia
6. Unidad De Defensa Jurídica (UdJ)
7. Acción Universitaria de Nicaragua
8. Nicaragüenses En El Mundo Texas, Inc
9. Juntos por Nicaragua 
10. Unión De Presos y Presas Político (UPPN)
11. Universidad de la Tierra en Puebla, A.C
12. Instituto para el Desarrollo y la Democracia (IPADE)
13. Asociación de Mujeres para la Integración de la Familia en Nicaragua (AMIFANIC)
14. Grupo de Reflexión de Excarcelados Políticos (GREX)
15. Centro de Información y Servicios de Asesoría en Salud (CISAS)
16. Fuerza Democrática Nicaragüense
17. Espacio de Diálogo entre Actores Nicaragüenses
18. Unión Democrática Renovadora (UNAMOS)
19. Fundación Puentes para el Desarrollo de Centroamérica
20. Alianza de Jóvenes y Estudiantes Nicaragüenses (AJEN)

Regional and International human rights organizations:

1. Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA)
2. International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)
3. Due Process of Law Foundation (DPLF)
4. Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL)
5. The International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights
6. Human Rights Watch
7. EU-LAT Network 
8. Civil Rights Defenders 
9. International Service for Human Rights (ISHR)