Crackdown on dissent threatens Nicaragua talks: UN

The “criminalisation of dissent” in Nicaragua will undermine efforts to restart negotiations to resolve a long-running political crisis, the United Nations human rights chief said Friday.

President Daniel Ortega and Nicaragua’s opposition have agreed to meet as early as next week for talks on easing tensions that began in April with protests over the government’s now-ditched pension reform.

“If the arrests and convictions of people expressing dissenting opinions continue in Nicaragua, current efforts to start dialogue to solve the political and social unrest in the country could be seriously undermined,” UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, said in a statement.

Bachelet, the former president of Chile, raised specific concern over the several hundred government critics — including journalists and civil society leaders — who have been arrested or held in pre-trial detention.

“The arrest and jailing of opposition leaders, possibly in some cases as a reprisal for cooperating with the UN, clearly hinders the creation of an environment conducive to holding a genuine and inclusive dialogue – which the Government says it wants,” Bachelet added in a statement.

Nicaragua is facing an economic crisis and a $315 million deficit, as it struggles without funding and loans that would usually come in from multilateral organisations.