Why we have to support Nicargua’s fight for democracy 

Nicaragua has in recent years gone from a shrinking democracy to no democracy at all, thereby joining an unfortunate global trend.

By now more than 5000 civic organisations have been dismantled and no political opposition is allowed to challenge the ruling party, or rather the ruling presidential couple of ex revolutionary hero Daniel Ortega and his communication pundit wife Rosario Murillo. Independent media and all other potentially critical voices have been silenced. Over a million people have left the country and half of the remaining population is thinking about it. Nicaragua even sticks out within the global community of pariah regimes by having stripped hundreds of Nicaraguans of their citizenships in open and blunt violation of article 15 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It never occurred to me that they would actually sink to that point.

All of this I know, but it still doesn’t prepare me for what is actually still possible to do in these circumstances, as I land in neighbouring country Costa Rica where a number of our Nicaraguan partner organisations have reemerged on this side of the boarder, which in itself is no easy feat. I listen to Faviola, Elvira, Adilia, Yader, Juan Carlos and others, how they all faced the choice between prison, death or exile. They are refugees from all walks of life, finding refuge in Costa Rica and in each other’s company. I talk to women from the rural Bosawas of the Caribbean cost of Nicaragua, struggling to even understand how the relatively modern bureaucracy of Costa Rica works, trying to build a life for their children under enormous sacrifice. I meet people in trauma, people powering through trauma, people grasping for hope, some finding it, everyone having it. I meet people missing home, some realising that returning now would just mess up their children and the new future they are trying to build, no matter how unwanted. I see them rising to the occasion by pure instinct. I see sheer human strength, and a lot of emotion from people so generous in sharing their experiences.

It turns out that the work for democracy and human rights in Nicaragua goes on. It goes on where it can’t be stopped in the surrounding countries. In a ring around the country refugees are getting organised, patiently continuing the work, knowing – or at least expressing – with certainty that the current regime will not last, knowing that virtually no regime can go against the will and the rights of its population indefinitely. The question is for how long the regime can hold off the change. The next question is what kind of power play will take place once that happens and how to prepare for it? On that day, the big guns within both private sector and military will stand well positioned to take over, that much is clear.

So, what then I wonder, is the strategy to make this authoritarian, abusive, and ineffective rule as short as possibly possible? The answers successively line up during my visit.

When you look at pictures of the mass demonstrations in Nicaragua in 2018 it becomes quite clear that the citizenry at that point was well positioned to fully participate in the democracy, knowing and exercising their rights, knowing the duties of the state, and fed up with an already hollow democracy and politicians who failed to see who they were elected to serve. This is of course the reason democratic space then rapidly started to shut down. The challenge, now that it's closed, is that civic spirit needs nurturing. It needs to be kept alive, to be ready when the opening comes, to not hand over power to the already powerful by walkover. By facilitating secure online conversations and debates; by providing trainings and short educational films on social issues, economy and rights with special focus on youth; by facilitating a platform for dialogue within the exiled opposition, these exiled organizations not only help keeping civic spirit alive. They contribute to nurturing and repairing the very social fabric of Nicaragua. Ultimately, they help paving the way for the democracy the people want and deserve.

If the documentation of Nicaragua’s history is to be left to the current regime, it’s going to be absurdly inaccurate and unfair. It will be a history where legitimate voices and opinions are turned into terrorists and traitors. A history where the enormous brain drain is depicted as good riddance and where 100 percent of students meet the educational goals, while the reality is as low as 10 percent. Etc. Part of the work is therefore to keep the records straight, by analyses, studies, and documentation of facts, including all the human rights abuses pending justice.

These analyses also serve to underpin international advocacy and international legal action. For example, by effectively showing to the world by means of drawings what a four square metre no window prison cell does to people, recess outside the cell were permitted, as were visits by or at least correspondence with family, some medical attention provided, and most importantly, families could finally understand that they had not disappeared, that they were alive. The Inter-American Court of Human Rights has concluded that the Nicaraguan state is liable for violations of the rights to freedom of association, trade union freedom, collective bargaining, fair trial, and judicial protection. Through our partners’ networking and by providing data an Argentinean judge has opened an investigation to determine whether the president and vice president are responsible for crimes against humanity, which is already the conclusion by the UN led Group of Human Rights Experts. Many members of government and state have been sanctioned by various countries. The International Criminal Court in the Hague is also an option, if the case is made by two countries, on the accounts of torture and of stripping citizens of their nationality, the latter being extremely easy to prove. The pressure is on, and needs to continue, not that it will make the current regime back down, but as a clear signal for other dark powers waiting in the wings that the current path, if continued, will be met with massive resistance to the benefit of no one.

As deeply upsetting, unsettling, selfish, and cynical it all is, in the midst of it all, in the face of massive and life risking difficulty, the resilient and determined civil society of Nicaragua is taking it on with effective strategy for a sustainable democratic future whose realisation is seen as a matter of time, knowing that the only way they can lose is if they stop fighting. Important to note though, most people participating in these activities will get nothing done before addressing their own traumas, so that service also needs to be there.

So, there it is, hope and determination in the midst of darkness, filling me with as much indignation as inspiration and learning, while providing an as unfortunate as valuable example of modern development aid, because this situation is not unique in the world of today.

I confess I choose the word “modern” for another reason. The Swedish government clearly would like to come off as the great modernizer of Swedish development aid, primarily by emphasising the importance of trade and linking it to Swedish exports. International trade is obviously crucial for development on a general level, but as a strategy to support the brave people I met it during my time in Costa Rica, it is not what they are asking for. People want justice, they want to get their country back, they want rights, and they also want livelihoods, but even at that international trade is not exactly what they have in mind, but rather setting up small businesses like bakeries, hair salons and restaurants.

The Swedish government has also suggested that democratic development can be measured by the performance of a country’s government and state. The example of Nicaragua shows us that the lousy performance of the Nicaraguan government is in fact a reaction to the democratic capacity of its people. If you find it hard to fully understand the government’s fear to let go of power, there is usually a lot more at stake than that. Lack of democratic mechanisms of checks and balances feed corruption like nothing else since opportunity makes the thief. Dictators and authoritarian power holders in general don’t just fear the loss of power. A reinstituted rule of law is likely to send them all to jail for a long time. Add to that the public humiliation as history is set straight, and you get a sense of why democracy is met with such resistance in so many places these days.

I also hope you get a sense of why we need to keep fighting and supporting the people of Nicaragua, wherever they are.