CIVICUS discusses civil society in Nicaragua with Amaru Ruiz, a Nicaraguan activist, president of Fundación del Río and president of the board of the Central American Association for Development and Democracy (ACDD). Amaru has been living in exile in Costa Rica since 2018.
In recent years, the Nicaraguan government has stepped up its offensive against civil society, closing more than 5,600 organisations and leaving over 55,000 people unemployed. These systematic attacks are part of the strategy of the regime led by President Daniel Ortega and his wife, ‘co-president’ Rosario Murillo, to consolidate control by eliminating all independent voices. This has had a severe impact on freedom of association, labour rights, key civil society functions such as public policy oversight and access to essential services such as education and healthcare.
