Nicaragua: Ortega Seeks to Consolidate Absolute Control
by eliminating all external oversight’
CIVICUS discusses Nicaragua’s withdrawal from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and other international organizations with Wisthon Noguera, an activist, student and deputy coordinator of the National Youth Platform of Nicaragua.
HAVANA TIMES – In May, the Nicaraguan government announced its withdrawal from UNESCO after the organization awarded the World Press Freedom Prize to La Prensa, a Nicaraguan newspaper operating in exile. The regime branded the newspaper a traitor and accused it of inciting foreign interference. The government’s move comes as part of a systematic offensive against press freedom and means a further loss of international space for Nicaraguan civil society.
Why did Nicaragua withdraw from UNESCO?
Wisthon Noguera: This departure is the latest episode in a strategy of isolation that began in early 2025. The regime has systematically abandoned United Nations agencies that have questioned its rule. First came the Food and Agriculture Organization in February, after it ranked Nicaragua among the countries with the highest levels of hunger in the world. President Daniel Ortega denounced ‘interventionist tendencies’ and closed the agency’s offices.
This was followed by a symbolic withdrawal from the Human Rights Council after its experts recommended that the state be brought before the International Court of Justice for stripping over 450 people of their nationality. And in late February, Nicaragua also left the International Labor Organization and the International Organization for Migration after receiving reform recommendations from them. This pattern repeated in May with the departure from UNESCO.
The logic is simple: the regime rejects any body that questions it, seeking to consolidate absolute control by eliminating all external oversight.
What does this decision reveal about the regime’s repressive strategy?
Its strategy of international isolation reinforces internal control, which intensified after the crackdown on 2018 protests. Since then, the regime has launched a relentless offensive against civil society organizations, independent media and universities.
Journalists have paid the highest price. Notable cases such as the murder of Ángel Gahona and the enforced disappearance of Fabiola Tercero illustrate the dangers of exercising freedom of expression. The result is devastating: 283 journalists have been forced into exile, media outlets such as La Prensa operate from abroad with enormous limitations, and a climate of fear and self-censorship now prevails within Nicaragua.
The education sector is also suffering the consequences. UNESCO’s departure weakens educational programs just as the regime has expropriated universities, eliminated public funding and revoked the legal status of at least 37 educational institutions, including the emblematic Central American University.
Meanwhile, the regime has carried out constitutional changes to legalize authoritarianism, further weakening the separation of powers and closing the few remaining spaces for democratic participation. Its aim is to eliminate any form of internal or external oversight and silence all critical voices, including those resisting from exile.
Are other countries in the region on the same path?
Nicaragua is part of a worrying regional authoritarian trend. In El Salvador, President Nayib Bukele has also restricted civil society organizations through legislation such as the Foreign Agents Law, which imposes a 30 per cent tax on foreign donations. Both governments use similar strategies to restrict freedom of association and the funding of independent media and organizations.
They are even collaborating with US immigration policies for profit: while El Salvador negotiates the reception of deportees from the US in exchange for funding for its prisons, Nicaragua receives them in secret. This underlines the urgent need to strengthen regional civil society networks and develop common strategies against authoritarianism.
How is Nicaraguan civil society resisting?
Repression has decimated civil society but has not eliminated it entirely. Since 2018, over 5,600 organizations have been dissolved, resulting in the almost total dismantling of the national civic fabric. The few remaining organizations operate under strict state supervision and have no real autonomy.
Internal resistance is virtually non-existent due to the enormous risks involved, but the diaspora keeps international condemnation alive in exile. Exiled organizations document the consequences of authoritarianism and urge host governments to take stronger measures against the regime.
However, resistance requires more than declarations. Civil society needs effective protection mechanisms for at-risk activists and journalists, as well as sustainable funding to enable them to continue operating from exile. International commitment to democracy and human rights in Nicaragua must translate into tangible actions of solidarity that strengthen civic resistance, inside and outside the country.