Nine opposition figures died in Nicaraguan state custody, rights group reports

A total of nine opposition figures and critics of the Nicaraguan government have died in state custody over the last seven years, the Mechanism for the Recognition of Political Prisoners reported Tuesday. The most recent death occurred in May, involving an indigenous leader.

The mechanism, which is supported by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (CIDH), detailed the nine deaths under custody. The first recorded death of an opponent in state custody was in May 2019 during a riot at La Modelo National Penitentiary, according to the official account. However, the Union of Political Prisoners of Nicaragua released audios and photographs from inside the prison presenting a different version.

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Nine opposition figures and critics of the Nicaraguan government have died in state custody over the last seven years, the Mechanism for the Recognition of Political Prisoners reported Tuesday.

Among the deceased was 52-year-old Flores Castillo, who died in custody on November 9, 2021, after accusing President Daniel Ortega of the alleged sexual abuse of his sister when she was a minor. Another was Torres, a former vice minister of the interior during the first Sandinista government, who died on February 12, 2022, at age 73 from an unspecified illness. Authorities accused him of being a "traitor to the homeland."

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He died in May 2019 during a riot staged by a group of 'political prisoners' in the National Penitentiary System, known as La Modelo, according to the official version.

Solís died in December 2023 under circumstances that remain unclear. Additionally, a former chief of the Sandinista People's Army and a key strategist of the armed insurrection against the Anastasio Somoza Debayle dictatorship died in September 2024 at age 77 "under the custody of the dictatorship," according to opponents. His brother, President Daniel Ortega, referred to him as a "traitor to the homeland" but acknowledged his "strategic contribution" to the revolution.

Alonso, 64, died on August 25, 2025, after being arrested on July 17 of the same year. As former president of the opposition Sandinista Renovation Movement (MRS), he was arrested with his son and wife, who was released the same day. He had been considered disappeared since his arrest. Cárdenas, 68, died on August 29, 2025, just over a month after his arrest. The opposition organization Monitoreo Azul y Blanco alleges his death was due to his work as a legal advisor to the Nicaraguan Episcopal Conference during the failed national dialogue in May 2018.

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Flores Castillo, 52, died in custody on November 9, 2021, after accusing Ortega of the alleged sexual abuse of his sister when she was a minor.

The Mechanism also noted the death of another political prisoner this year, whose name was withheld for family security reasons. The latest fatality is a Miskito indigenous leader, a deputy in the National Assembly and president of the Yatama party, who died on May 30.

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Torres, who was vice minister of the interior during the first Sandinista government (1979-1990) and in 1974 risked his life to free Ortega from prison, died in custody on February 12, 2022, at 73 years of age, due to an 'illness' not specified by the authorities, who accused him of being a 'traitor to the homeland.'