Nicaragua: 2021 analysis and perspectives. The political situation, human rights and the economy | Heinrich Böll Stiftung – San Salvador | El Salvador | Costa Rica | Guatemala | Honduras

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Contextual framework for the social and political situation in 2021 in Nicaragua.

The most important political event of 2021 was the celebration on November 7 of the upcoming elections of national authorities for the next five years. According to the Electoral Code, national elections for president, vice president, deputies to the National Assembly and the Central American Parliament were to be held. The expectations of the Nicaraguans and the international community were that in this way the socio-political crisis that has been open in the country since April 2018, when mass demonstrations against the government were suppressed, which led to cases of massive violations of human rights, human rights and crimes against humanity, as well as to the strong effects on the economy. Attempts to hold two consecutive dialogues in 2018 and 2019 between the government and the civil opposition to resolve the conflict did not bear fruit. Under these circumstances, the FSLN decided to radicalize its political project in what I call the third stage of the revolution, changing its strategy since 2007 from unanimous transformation to transformation by conflict. Since then, the government has maintained control of the country under a strict police state and dismantled all civil liberties, exacerbating the human rights and economic crisis. These conditions and government mismanagement of the health crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic have exacerbated the human rights situation. Residents’ expectations for the November 7 elections were to close this chapter in peace and restart a new one in peace and freedom, with a change of government.

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