HomeNewsBriefVictims Say Nicaragua Police Torture Prisoners
BRIEF

Victims Say Nicaragua Police Torture Prisoners

HUMAN RIGHTS / 24 JUN 2013 BY MARGUERITE CAWLEY EN

Police in Nicaragua are engaging in serious human rights abuses, according to testimony collected by a human rights organization, highlighting that even in the most exemplary of police forces, abuse of authority is a major concern.  

Prisoners told a human rights group that the police made them play "Russian roulette" -- when a revolver is loaded with one bullet and the cylinder spun at random before shooting, leaving the prisoner's fate to chance -- almost strangled one prisoner with a condom, and nearly buried alive another prisoner, according to the first of a two part series in the Nicaraguan newspaper La Prensa.

The report adds that more "typical" abuses also occur, including hits and kicks to the face, and other parts of the body. And, in a separate report on La Prensa's site, a victims says the police poured acid on his feet after corralling him and others during a street demonstration, demanding to know if the money for their political activities came from "the right, the Americans."

An official from the non-governmental organization known as the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (CENIDH), which chronicled the abuses that occur during investigations, interrogations and mass arrests, reported that 600 allegations of police abuse were filed in 2012, and a similar number in 2011. 

Police have so far not responded to the allegations.

InSight Crime Analysis

Though Nicaragua's police force is upheld as a model for regional security (see InSight Crime's interview with Nicaragua's police chief), reports of prisoner abuses shed light on cracks in a body described a year earlier by Police Chief Aminta Granera as "preventive, proactive and deeply connected to the community."

According to security analyst Robert Orozco, Nicaraguan police abuse their authority with prisoners because they believe they are "above the law," and because they lack supervision from a higher authority.

The reported torture of Nicaraguan prisoners is just one example of a phenomenon seen across the region. A May 2012 report from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) highlighted a similar trend toward the use of torture as a means to gain information from prisoners in Brazil, Ecuador, Mexico and Paraguay. In Brazil, a video of police abusing prisoners was blamed for sparking a series of arson attacks in February.

Another major regional problem in the treatment of prisoners is prison overcrowding, which contributes to a lack of control by authorities, and allows for the emergence of violent black market economies and "micro-states" run by inmate bosses in prisons in Honduras and Venezuela. In one El Salvador prison that is four times over capacity, the Barrio 18 gang controls daily life and runs extortion operations (see InSight Crime's video report on the prison).

share icon icon icon

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

What are your thoughts? Click here to send InSight Crime your comments.

We encourage readers to copy and distribute our work for non-commercial purposes, with attribution to InSight Crime in the byline and links to the original at both the top and bottom of the article. Check the Creative Commons website for more details of how to share our work, and please send us an email if you use an article.

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

Related Content

HOMICIDES / 4 AUG 2021

Families combing for clues about their vanished loved ones at recently discovered extermination sites in northern Mexico have turned to…

ELITES AND CRIME / 4 JUN 2021

With his leading opponent under house arrest for money laundering charges, Nicaragua President Daniel Ortega appears to be weaponizing the…

BRAZIL / 2 NOV 2021

Counterfeit cigarettes may appear harmless, but the illicit tobacco trade often spurs other criminal activities – with the latest case…

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

Venezuela Coverage Receives Great Reception

27 MAY 2023

Several of InSight Crime’s most recent articles about Venezuela have been well received by regional media. Our article on Venezuela’s colectivos expanding beyond their political role to control access to…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime's Chemical Precursor Report Continues

19 MAY 2023

For the second week in a row, our investigation into the flow of precursor chemicals for the manufacture of synthetic drugs in Mexico has been cited by multiple regional media…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime’s Chemical Precursor Report Widely Cited

THE ORGANIZATION / 12 MAY 2023

We are proud to see that our recently published investigation into the supply chain of chemical precursors feeding Mexico’s synthetic drug production has been warmly received.

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime’s Paraguay Election Coverage Draws Attention 

5 MAY 2023

InSight Crime looked at the various anti-organized crime policies proposed by the candidates in Paraguay’s presidential election, which was won on April 30 by Santiago Peña. Our pre-election coverage was cited…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Cited in OAS, CARICOM Reports

28 APR 2023

This week, InSight Crime’s work was cited nine times in a new report by the Organization of American States (OAS) titled “The Impact of Organized Crime on Women,…