TRANSLATION
[Note: all dates in this translation listed as month/day/year]
Monopolizing death:Or how to frame a government by inflating a list of the deadBy Enrique Hendrix
July 8th, 2018 Presidential Decree No. 03-2018, "On Amendments to Decree No. 975 GeneralRegulation of the Social Security Law" issued on April 18th, was the perfect pretext forthe Opposition to initiate a series of protests that began to escalate. Four days later, inthe face of acts of violence and an estimated 23 deaths, President Daniel Ortegadecided, on April 22nd, to repeal the Presidential Decree that had served as a catalystfor what looked like an explosion of social unrest. In that same announcement he calledfor a National Dialogue as an instrument to restore the security, stability and peace ofNicaraguan families, address the situation of the Social Security system and thepossible inclusion of tax reforms for discussion. He also invited Cardinal LeopoldoBrenes to participate in the National Dialogue with a delegation from the EpiscopalConference so that it would serve as guarantor and witness. However, despite therepeal of the decree that triggered the protests and despite the willingness of theGovernment to seek a solution through the National Dialogue, the protests continued. The Human Rights organizations began their work of compiling the names of thedeceased citizens within the context of the protests. Three organizations stand out:
TheNicaraguan Center for Human Rights (CENIDH)
, the first body to pronounce itself;the
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (CIDH)
, whose participation wasrequested by the government of Nicaragua on May 13th; and the
NicaraguanAssociation for Human Rights (ANPDH)
, the body that has been most active inrelation to the death list. The
Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights
(CENIDH - founded in 1990 and of whichMrs. Vilma Núñez de Escorcia is president) has issued three reports corresponding todifferent time periods in the context of the protests. The First Report issued on May 4,covers April 19th to May 4th; The Second Report issued on May 17th, covers May 1st toMay 15th; and the Third Report issued on June 18th, covers May 16th to June 18th.The CENIDH list is not presented as a chart or a table, but as a section within eachreport which is titled "Killed and wounded as a result of government repression andviolence." Note that this title irresponsibly and arbitrarily asserts that the deaths are adirect consequence of the violence on the part of the Government. In the third and lastreport issued, it is indicated that the total of deaths is 178 citizens, however the FirstReport includes the names of 45 dead citizens, the Second Report 12 citizens and theThird Report 110, so that the total of the three reports is one hundred and sixty-seven(167) dead on June 18th and not 178.
On May 21st, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (CIDH – anautonomous body of the Organization of American States) presented PreliminaryObservations on its working visit to Nicaragua from May 17th to 21st and in the contextof the protests beginning on April 18th. Those observations did not include a list ofcitizens who had died in at the scene of the protests. It was not until June 22nd that theCIDH presented its Final Report on its visit to Nicaragua before the Permanent Councilof the Organization of American States (OAS), a report in which the list of decedents was attached, accounting for a total of Two Hundred Twelve (212). This appendix isentitled:
"List of deceased persons in Nicaragua since the beginning of the protests(April 19 - June 19, 2018)"
. Note the cynical euphemism of "deceased in Nicaraguasince the beginning of the protests", that is, every person who died from April 19th toJune 19th, promoting the decontextualization of the same, regardless of the causes andcircumstances of the death of each of them and as we will indicate later. On June 26, the
Nicaraguan Association for Human Rights
(ANPDH - founded inMiami in 1986 and of which Monsignor Abelardo Mata is president emeritus) issued adocument entitled: "Preliminary Report of Nicaraguan Citizens Killed in Civic Protest asa Human Rights and Executed by Armed Groups (Paramilitary or Shock Forces) for theperiod: 04/19/2018 to 6/25/2018. (66 calendar days)". Note that the title shares thesame editorial line of the CENIDH, affirming irresponsibly and arbitrarily that all thedeaths occurred in the context of "Civic Protest" and likewise attributes their deaths to"Executions by Armed Groups (Paramilitaries or Shock Forces) ". The preliminary reportof the ANPDH counted a death toll of 285. It should be noted that these reports have inconsistencies and omissions in terms ofnames with incomplete data, inaccurate names or boxes with the indication "NoInformation" or "Under Investigation". This denotes the lack of disposition and a lack ofability in actual case-by-case investigation, with results limited to information gatheredfrom journalistic sources and those accepted in complaints without no willingness tocorroborate the data.
Deaths Decontextualized
A recurrent feature in the lists is the removal from context each one of the dead andadjudging them as victims of the "repression" on the part of the government. In fact, thelists include victims of traffic accidents, altercations between gangs, murders byrobbery, those killed by accidental firing of a firearm and even more absurdly, a suicide.This is evidence of a campaign that, in the absence of a just cause, uses the death ofevery citizen as a motive to manipulate the emotions of the population in order tocounterpose “the people” against “the people.” It is necessary to know the set of circumstances surrounding the death of each citizen tounderstand whether that death has any direct or indirect relationship to the protests.
For the purposes of this article, we define "Death Not Directly Related to Protests" asthose deaths that occurred outside the scenario of a demonstration, a confrontationinvolving protesters, the attack or destruction of institutional targets (or FSLNsupporters), or the looting of shops. The adverb "directly” is used to distinguish these deaths from those caused indirectly.As the product of the political and social destabilization imposed on the country, crimehas been empowered, taking ground, directly affecting Nicaraguan society and causingdeaths, which although not connected to the protests are an indirect consequence ofthem. Therefore, efforts will be made to identify the quantities corresponding to the followingvariables from the death lists of the three organizations:
Repeated Names
Deaths Not Directly Related to Protests
People murdered by the Opposition
Protesters (protesters, opponents, opposition activists operating roadblocks...)
Bystanders (uninvolved in the protests)
Names with insufficient data to determine the context of the death
Deaths omitted from each list
Sources for the Verification of the Lists
The list of each report was verified name by name with information gathered fromnewspaper articles and press releases from the National Police. The biggest weaknessis that many media outlets are diverting, omitting or manipulating information for politicalpurposes. The following web pages correspond to most of the sources used to cross-check thelists:
The Press: laprensa.com.ni
The New Newspaper: elnuevodiario.com.ni
Confidential: http://www.com.ni
100% News: http://www.com.ni
The 19 Digital: el19digital.com
The New Radio Ya: nuevaya.com.ni
National Police: http://www.policia.gob.ni
Newspaper Today: http://www.hoy.com.ni
Q'hubo Nicaragua: http://www.qhubo.com.ni
TN8: http://www.tn8.tv
The Voice of Sandinismo: http://www.lavozdelsandinismo.com To verify the context in which the citizens cited in each list died, a matrix was drawn up that sought to identify the full name, photo, age, profession, place of death, reason for