Nicaragua’s Future: Repression, Resistance, and Hope

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Over the past two decades, Nicaragua has experienced one of the world's most dramatic declines in freedom, losing 49 points on Freedom in the World’s 100-point scale assessing political rights and civil liberties. The regime of Daniel Ortega and his wife and “co-president” Rosario Murillo has systematically dismantled democratic institutions, imprisoned political opponents, killed peaceful protestors, and shuttered thousands of civil society organizations, independent media outlets, and religious institutions. Moreover, it has exported its repression beyond Nicaragua's borders, targeting dissidents in neighboring Costa Rica with surveillance, intimidation, and violence. The regime has also deepened its cooperation with other authoritarian powers, including those ruling China, Cuba, Russia, and Iran.

In January 2027, Nicaragua is set to further consolidate this descent into autocracy through constitutional amendments that would give the Ortega-Murillo regime unprecedented control over the electoral process and further isolate it from the democratic world. The proposed amendments provide expansive grounds to disqualify virtually any opposition candidate from seeking political office, allow for the dissolution of political parties that receive foreign funding, and would postpone the general election until 2028.

With only two months until these constitutional amendments are approved by the compliant National Assembly, it is imperative that civil society, democratic governments, and multilateral bodies formulate a coordinated response. Join Freedom House on November 19 for a discussion on how these actors and sectors can push back against this latest effort to create a truly closed and controlled society. Panelists will reflect on the country’s worsening repression, what tools can be deployed against the regime, and their hopes for Nicaragua’s democratic future.