Nicaragua maintains an extensive transnational network to surveil and intimidate opposition figures in exile, affecting hundreds of thousands of people, the UN Group of Human Rights Experts on Nicaragua warned. A report prepared by the experts details an extensive transnational architecture of surveillance and intelligence used to monitor, intimidate and attack the hundreds of thousands of Nicaraguans living abroad, the group said in a statement.
In the report, which will be presented March 16 to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, the experts said the structure sustained by the government of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo includes the army, police, migration authorities and diplomatic missions.
According to the statement, the government has arbitrarily stripped 452 Nicaraguans of their nationality, left thousands more exiles in a state of de facto statelessness by refusing to renew or provide documents, and prevented many from returning to Nicaragua.
The statement added that since 2018, public funds have been diverted to finance repression through the creation of a parallel structure within the ruling party. Jan-Michael Simon, president of the group of experts, said in the statement that repression and institutional corruption have become the method of government in Nicaragua.
Political persecution is financed by the state, carried out through its institutions, and extends beyond the country’s borders to ensure that no one, absolutely no one, stands in the way of the regime, Simon added. The statement said at least a dozen cases of killings or attempted killings against critics in exile have been reported, including the June 2025 killing in Costa Rica of retired army major and government critic Roberto Samcam.
Another member of the expert committee, Reed Brody, said the misuse and diversion of public resources have directly contributed to the commission of serious human rights violations. This investigative group is an independent body mandated by the UN Human Rights Council.
It was created in March 2022 and is tasked with carrying out thorough investigations into abuses committed in Nicaragua since April 2018, when protests against the government were violently repressed.
