Escalating crisis of enforced disappearances in Nicaragua’

MEXICO CITY Families in Nicaragua are facing immense agony as a growing number of government critics and former revolutionaries disappear into state custody without a trace. Human rights monitors warn that state-backed enforced disappearances are being used as a deliberate tactic to spread fear across society. Among the missing is 71-year-old retired army colonel Carlos Brenes and his wife, Salvadora Martinez. Brenes was once a prominent fighter who helped President Daniel Ortega overthrow a previous dictatorship in the 1970s. However, he later became an outspoken critic of Ortega's administration. Neighbors witnessed police escorting the couple away from their rural home in August 2025. Since then, their daughter, Thelma Brenes, has received zero information from authorities regarding their health or whereabouts, calling the silence a severe form of psychological torture. International organizations and human rights groups report that at least 68 people are currently imprisoned for political reasons in Nicaragua, with 31 classified as victims of enforced disappearance. The regime offers no formal arrest warrants, schedules no public court hearings, and ignores inquiries from desperate relatives. United Nations expert’s state that at least eight political detainees have died in state custody since crackdowns began during anti-government protests in 2018. Other former Sandinista fighters have faced similar fates. Victor Boitano, a retired colonel who began criticizing government corruption, was arrested without a warrant by armed officers at his Managua home in April 2024. His wife, Eugenia Valle, spent months searching various prisons before fleeing into exile in Italy after police surrounded her residence. She remains deeply distressed, noting that no one has seen her husband in over two years. The Nicaraguan government, along with its interior ministry and army, has consistently ignored inquiries from international agencies and families. Experts emphasize that these secret detentions mirror dark periods of Latin American history, designed entirely to silence opposition and terrorize citizens into complete submission.