UN experts accuse Nicaragua’s government of abuses ‘tantamount to crimes against humanity’

By MEGAN JANETSKY and GABRIELA SELSER
Associated Press

MEXICO CITY (AP) — A panel of U.N.-backed human rights experts has accused Nicaragua’s government of committing “serious systematic human rights violations, tantamount to crimes against humanity.” That’s according to findings released Thursday from an investigation into the country’s expanding crackdown on political dissent. The government of President Daniel Ortega has gone after opponents for years. But the report said repression expanded in the past year to large swaths of society with a focus on “incapacitating any kind of opposition in the long term.” The state has targeted civilians, including university students, Indigenous and Black Nicaraguans, and members of the Catholic Church.