Nicaragua’s New ‘Volunteer’ Police Force Sparks Paramilitary Fears

Over 1,400 masked civilians were sworn into Nicaragua‘s new “volunteer” police force on Friday, prompting human rights groups to warn that President Daniel Ortega may be institutionalising a paramilitary force.

Why It’s Important

Opposition figures and human rights groups have raised concerns that the ‘volunteer police’ force is an attempt to institutionalise armed civilians loyal to Nicaragua’s President Ortega. They say some of the new recruits were implicated in the deadly suppression of anti-government protests that erupted in 2018.

That year, in the western Nicaraguan city of Estelí, young protesters opposing the government of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo were killed.

By The Numbers

More than 4,000 people have been inducted into the force over just three days this week across the Central American nation, according to the government’s official news site.

Context

Changes to Nicaragua’s constitution that include the formation of the new force have been approved by the government-controlled legislature.

Set to come into force in the coming weeks, the changes will concentrate power in the hands of Ortega, who has been in office since 2007, and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo.

The Ortega-Murillo Constitution, still pending full approval, has dismantled the separation of powers, formally established the role of “co-president” for Rosario Murillo, and authorised the appointment of vice presidents without a public vote, among other controversial measures.

Notably, Article 97 legitimises the creation of the “Volunteer Police,” described as an auxiliary body of the National Police.

Human rights organisations argue this move effectively legalises the paramilitary forces responsible for the deaths of most of the 355 peaceful protesters killed during the 2018 demonstrations against the regime.

Key Quotes

At a swearing-in ceremony on Friday in the small northern city of Ocotal, national police chief Francisco Diaz described the new force as one that will support existing police officers, and is voluntarily formed by civilians who will “defend peace and security.”

Gioconda Belli, a Nicaraguan poet and prominent opposition voice in exile in Spain, wrote on social media: “Without any scruples, Ortega and Murillo make 1,500 paramilitaries swear loyalty to them with their faces covered by balaclavas. A lawless, repressive army that has been given constitutional status.”

(With inputs from Reuters)