Nicaragua banishes UN human rights team for critical report
Managua, Sept 1 (IBNS): The Nicaraguan government has ordered a team of United nations human rights to leave the country, after the latter submitted a report critical of President Daniel Ortega's administration.
The said report, which was released on Wednesday, said: "Repression and retaliation against demonstrators continue as the world looks away."
It said that hundreds were killed during the recent political turmoil.
Nicaragua has rejected the findings as biased.
However, the chief of the UN mission, Guillermo Fernandez, has said that his team would continue to track the developments in the country from abroad.
What the report says
"During the second 'clean-up' stage, from mid-June to mid-July, police, pro-government armed elements, including those known as 'shock forces' (fuerzas de choque), and mobs (turbas) forcibly dismantled roadblocks and barricades," the report said.
It took into account the events which took place from April 18.
The team said that information it obtained "strongly indicates that these armed elements acted with the acquiescence of high-level state authorities and the national police, often in a joint and coordinated manner".
"Civil servants, including teachers and doctors, have been sacked, and people seen to be critical of the government have been harassed, intimidated and even attacked.
"The authorities, including at the highest-level, have increasingly stigmatised and discredited protesters and human rights defenders, describing them as 'terrorists', 'coup-mongers' or 'plagues'," it added.
Image: Artículo 66/UN
