GENEVA/PANAMA - Nicaragua's Government is expanding its repression of perceived opponents far beyond its own borders, targeting Nicaraguan citizens abroad as part of an intensifying campaign to silence critics in exile, the UN Group of Human Rights Experts on Nicaragua said in a new report today.
The report, presented to the Human Rights Council in Geneva, documents how the Government of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo has targeted thousands of Nicaraguans abroad - many who fled the nation following a bloody 2018 crackdown - through a series of severe measures including arbitrary deprivation of nationality, entry bans, denial of passports, confiscation of property, digital surveillance, threats, as well as intimidation and punishment of relatives who remain in Nicaragua.
"The harm exiled Nicaraguans suffer is not the result of a discrete event or a single violation," said Jan-Michael Simon, Chair of the Group. "Their entire life is systematically dismantled, beginning with their uprooting and erosion of legal identity, cascading into economic collapse, social isolation, and pervasive surveillance."
The Experts noted that 452 persons had been deprived of their nationality by court order between February 2023 and September 2024, of whom only one remains in Nicaragua. Others were also stripped of their nationality without any legal process. Many other Nicaraguans abroad have been refused passport renewals or access to other official documents, rendering them "de facto" stateless, stripped of their legal identity, livelihood and rights, and prevented from rebuilding their lives abroad.
The Group has also documented reports of physical violence against Nicaraguans in exile, including the June 2025 murder of retired army major Roberto Samcam in Costa Rica. Samcam, who had been stripped of his nationality in 2023, was a vocal critic of State repression.
While investigations are ongoing and no link has been established to the Nicaraguan authorities, the Experts noted that this was at least the fourth violent attack on exiles in recent years.
"A climate of fear has spread through the Nicaraguan diaspora, as no place in the world seems safe for those who oppose Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo," said Reed Brody, member of the Group of Experts. "An invisible hand follows exiles everywhere-denying passports, threatening them and their families, cutting them off from their homeland."
In their presentation to the Council, the Experts also expressed concern about the deteriorating human rights situation inside the country. In this context, they raised alarm over the increase of simultaneous mass arrests and prolonged incommunicado detention inside Nicaragua. Authorities have refused to disclose the fate and whereabouts of dozens of detainees, acts which amount to enforced disappearances.
"The resurgence of enforced disappearances is one of the most alarming developments we have seen since the Group began its mandate," said Ariela Peralta, member of the Group of Experts.
Two recent deaths in custody occurred while the individuals were held incommunicado. The Group stressed these deaths reflect the brutality of detention conditions and the lethal consequences of torture.
"When people are detained in secret, tortured, and, in some cases, die under State custody, state responsibility is incurred under international law. This points to a deliberate policy of terror that must be confronted with urgency," added Peralta.
The Experts further highlighted Nicaragua's unprecedented withdrawal from international organizations and bodies, including the UN Human Rights Council.
The Group said that these withdrawals represented a deliberate strategy to evade scrutiny while consolidating impunity, and called on States to hold Nicaragua accountable before the International Court of Justice for violations of the UN Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness of 1961.
The Group also urged States to take comprehensive measures to strengthen the protection of Nicaraguans in exile, including by facilitating asylum, refugee or naturalization procedures.
