At least 40 Nicaraguan opposition members under surveillance that remain under the threat of imprisonment in Nicaragua if they do not show up to sign at the police station in their city. This is part of the control exercised by the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega in the country.
The Ortega-led police identify these Nicaraguans as «white targets,» according to the testimonies of some of these opposition members. Some of them are effectively under house arrest, unable to even leave their municipalities.
Human rights defender Ivania Álvarez, who monitors the repressive actions of the regime, stated that these opposition members under surveillance cannot be identified for security reasons. She explained that communicating with them puts their own physical integrity at risk, considering the limited freedom they have in the country. Nevertheless, some take the risk to provide details about the conditions imposed on them by Ortega’s dictatorship in Nicaragua through the Ortega-led police.
Álvarez mentioned that between July and December, they received over 40 complaints in the departments (provinces) of Jinotega, Matagalpa, Chontales, Estelí, Masaya, and Managua. It is highly likely that similar situations are occurring in other departments (provinces), but people are afraid to report.
Most of the individuals have confirmed that the police demand them to show up at the police station every three days or once a week. They are also instructed to show up whenever the police request it. Upon arriving at the police station, they are asked to sign a «book» or a «notebook» with the heading «white target.» The police officers receiving them provide no explanation or reason for why they need to sign. They take photos while they are signing, and also request and record the identity card information of the signatories.
Under surveillance since July 2023
Álvarez specified that this situation has been occurring since July 2023, when reports from activists and opposition members in the territories, who had some involvement in the April 2018 protests, were received.
«In some cases, they were verbally summoned to their local police delegations. They were told to «voluntarily» present themselves at a specific time. In other cases, they were forcibly taken from their homes and detained for three or four hours, where they were interviewed, threatened, and photographed. Subsequently, they were asked to fill out a form containing not only their general information but also details about their entire family, including names, ages, workplace, phone numbers from everyone, social media accounts, and whether they had relatives abroad,» Álvarez recounted.
From that moment, they were informed that they had to appear to sign once every three days, others once a week, and, in the best-case scenario, once every two weeks. «They were also assigned an officer who would be monitoring them through their phones, and they are asked to notify the police officer if they are going to leave their municipality and explain the reason for their departure,» Álvarez reported.
There are more opposition members under surveillance
The activist stated that beside these citizens, with periodic appearances at police stations, there are more than 80 people who were kidnapped between May 3 and 13, 2023, who are in the same situation.
Álvarez emphasized the need to expose this situation and to continue demanding the freedom of all political prisoners in Nicaragua. Despite the release and exile of more well-known political prisoners, she pointed out that there are still lesser-known political prisoners, and overall, the Nicaraguan population remains under the repressive control of the Ortega dictatorship.
In Nicaragua, individuals who publicly express opposition to the Ortega regime face persecution, harassment, imprisonment, and the confiscation of their assets and exile. Most political prisoners have been denationalized and exiled; however, there still remains a group in prison.
