In a statement, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) confirmed that it is ending its operations in the Central American country “at the request of the Nicaraguan authorities.” After the expulsion by the Government of Daniel Ortega, the humanitarian work that the organization carried out in the nation ends. Thus, the only international organization left in Nicaragua to verify the conditions in which the detainees are found is withdrawn.
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A necessary humanitarian work concludes in Nicaragua after years of obstacles. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) reported that it is closing its offices and leaving the country following a direct request from the Government.
“At the request of the Nicaraguan authorities, the ICRC has closed its office in Managua, thus ending its humanitarian mission in the country,” said the delegation for Mexico and Central America in a statement, issued on Monday, December 18.
The local press highlights that after this expulsion by the Daniel Ortega Administration, the only international organization that remained in the nation to document the conditions in which political prisoners remain is withdrawn.
Since 2018 and after authorization from Managua, the ICRC was the only global organization that had been able to access the different Nicaraguan prisons to verify the situation of the detainees, after their families requested it. However, over time the Committee faced several obstacles in fulfilling its humanitarian functions.
Partial access and expulsion of its head of mission, the obstacles to the ICRC in Nicaragua
In its statement, the International Committee of the Red Cross recalled that a permanent mission was established in Nicaragua since January 2019 and that two months later, in March, the ICRC and the Ortega Government formalized an agreement to visit detained people.
The visits had to be carried out “in silence and confidentiality,” explained in 2021 the then head of the mission, Thomas Ess.
But even after obtaining approval from the authorities, since June 2021, ICRC representatives no longer have access to meet with prisoners at El Chipote prison.
A situation that was only publicly known until last March. Former political prisoners detained in the middle of 2021 assured that they only received one visit from the International Committee of the Red Cross, because the Ortega Administration prevented their entry.
Another of the great blows for the humanitarian mission came in March 2022, when Ess was expelled from Nicaraguan territory. The then director of the delegation indicated that the decision, which was communicated to him in a letter, took the organization “by surprise.”
The ICRC indicated that it did not know the reasons. However, the measure took place in the midst of repression by local authorities against civil organizations and human rights defenders.
After confirming the expulsion of the organization, the Committee highlighted that during these years its operations focused on exclusively humanitarian areas: supporting the Nicaraguan Red Cross, preventing and addressing humanitarian consequences of the deprivation of liberty, and training activities on International Law. Humanitarian, the legal framework applicable to the tasks in which the Armed and security Forces participate, as well as International Human Rights Law.
However, the support that the ICRC provided to the local Red Cross was abruptly hindered, when last May the Legislature – controlled by the ruling Sandinista Front – unanimously approved to dissolve the Nicaraguan Red Cross, which had operated since 1931, after accusing it of violating neutrality in the demonstrations that the Government denounced as an “attempted coup d'état” favored by the United States.
After that decision, the Administration of Daniel Ortega, in the Executive consecutively since 2007, replaced the Red Cross with an organization attached to the Government.
The expulsion of the ICRC adds to the list of persecution that activists, presidential candidates, and leaders of the Catholic Church, among others, have experienced for years in Nicaragua.
With EFE, AFP and local media
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