Nicaragua says it will withdraw from Central American Parliament

Nicaragua’s government has announced it will withdraw from the Central American Parliament, a key regional body, as President Daniel Ortega and his co-president and wife, Rosario Murillo, consolidate power.

The Foreign Ministry announced on Saturday that it would exit the six-country parliament, established to help promote human rights and democracy in Central America.

The announcement comes shortly after Friday’s passage of a resolution at the Organization of American States (OAS), calling on Nicaragua to restore civil rights and release political prisoners.

The Nicaraguan government, however, said Saturday’s action was “in the full exercise of its sovereignty”.

The government said the decision would take effect immediately, the latest in a series of withdrawals from regional and international organisations the country has undertaken.

The Ortega-Murillo government has accused such international groups of being vehicles for outside intervention.

Nicaragua pulled out of the OAS in 2023 and the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHCR) in 2025 over criticisms of the country’s human rights record, which has deteriorated during Ortega’s tenure.

Ortega has been accused of using the state to target critics and dissidents, including through imprisonment, torture and exile.

A UN report released in September found the government was responsible for at least eight deaths in custody since 2018, when Ortega began a sharp crackdown on protests and dissent.

The report also detailed inconsistencies in the government’s account of in-custody deaths, including that of Indigenous Miskito leader Brooklyn Rivera.

A critic of the Ortega government, Rivera was detained for 32 months with minimal contact with his family before dying in May.

The government blamed his death on the effects of a previous case of COVID-19, an assessment the Physicians for Human Rights group called “not medically coherent”.

“A State that resorts to enforced disappearance and allows persons to die in its custody falls short of the minimum human rights standards required for credible democratic governance,” said Jan-Michael Simon, the group’s chair.

The administration of US President Donald Trump has also been vocal in denouncing the Nicaraguan government’s abuses, including Rivera’s death.

In July, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio published a statement calling Nicaragua’s government a “dictatorship” after it announced it would abolish the country’s upcoming elections.

He also framed the Ortega-Murillo government as a threat to US national security. “Ortega’s pledge to abolish elections in Nicaragua proves his cowardice and fear of the Nicaraguan people’s will,” Rubio wrote.

But the Trump administration has come under criticism for seeking to deport Nicaraguan citizens who were expelled under Ortega’s leadership.

Human Rights Watch recently warned that the Trump administration had detained eight Nicaraguan nationals for deportation, seven of whom were among 222 political prisoners flown into exile in the US in February 2023, during former President Joe Biden’s administration.

Nicaragua subsequently stripped them of their citizenship and branded them as “traitors” to the country. The Ortega government also seized any property they had in the country.

Human Rights Watch urged the Trump administration not to deport the eight detainees, warning that they could face abuse if they were returned to Nicaragua. Four of the detainees reportedly have pending asylum cases.

“After offering refuge to these critics of the Nicaraguan government just three years ago, the United States is now detaining and threatening to deport them,” Juanita Goebertus, Americas director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement.

“International law prohibits the United States from returning anyone to face the threat of persecution or torture. US authorities should not be trying to send these men back into danger.”