Nine out of ten Nicaraguans surveyed by the agency make democracy affirm that “they feel monitored in their neighborhoods” by the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo, through a network of police, paramilitary operators and political structures that act in coordination with the Army Intelligence Directorate and the Interior Ministry. which is already part of everyday life in Nicaragua. Or, in the words of the Sandinista co -president itself, 92.25% of the population lives under the “revolutionary surveillance.”
The study, carried out independently by the agency that operates in exile, was published a month and a half after Ortega ordered, “redoubled revolutionary surveillance” to “capture and process the vendespatrias”, that is, to all that considered opponent or traitor.
“We have to always stay with all the tasks that we have to fulfill: study, preparation, jobs in different activities without neglecting there in the place where we work, there in the neighborhood where we are working without neglecting revolutionary surveillance … and that in that way there is no room for terrorists, the conspirators, the vessel Getting the “Peace” defense.
The operators of that fierce surveillance identified by the citizens, according to the report of Make Democracy presented this September 2 in Costa Rica, are the Sandinista (CLS) leadership committees, indicated by more than half of the consulted (52.56%). They are followed by the National Police (30.19%) and the paramilitary groups (16.98%). To a lesser extent, workers from public institutions are also mentioned, the Voluntary Police Political Secretaries and even co -workers.
“In the neighborhood structures, the Sandinista front has people in charge of passing information about what is happening in the surroundings of each house,” says Jesús Tefel, president of us democracy and denationalized by the regime. “The National Police and the CLS work hand in hand: the CLS collects the information, transfer it to the Police and this is the one that exercises repression, which ultimately takes people, imprisoned them, interrogates them, forces them to sign every day in their homes, leave them in house arrest… different measures to maintain that social control. Or even, they even resort to the mere intimidation of planting a patrol in front of the housing. basically symbiotic relationship that is observed in Nicaragua in terms of surveillance ”.
The consultation of Make Democracy was held from July 18 to 23, 2025, at which time the co -presidential regime unleashed an opponent hunt in various departments of the country. 33 people were arrested and are in condition of forced disappearance. Two of those detainees have been delivered dead to their relatives in less than seven days.
These data reveal that the predominant perception is that the state control apparatus is sustained not only in armed and police forces, but also in community and labor structures. This gear generates an environment of constant surveillance and repression against political dissent, and even reaches officials and supporters of the government itself, terrified of the purge that Co -President Rosario Murillo executes against renowned Sandinistas –C– who adversizes it and rejects the dynastic succession she heads.
The report warns that this permanent surveillance climate not only erodes the intimacy and freedom of citizens, but also contributes to the deterioration of citizen security. The distrust of neighbors, the normalization of the complaint as a control tool and the constant presence of parapolial actors in the neighborhoods have generated an environment of fear that facilitates impunity and violence. Instead of strengthening population protection, the state apparatus guides its resources to monitor and repress, weakening the institutional capacity to address real problems of common crime and exposing society to higher levels of daily insecurity.
A method that has been refining
During the first quarter of 2025, which reinforced citizen terror on vigilance in the neighborhoods. However, since the protests of 2018, the Sandinista administration has been perfecting its method of political surveillance, in coordination with the Police, the Army Intelligence Directorate and the Interior Ministry, managed by it.
In addition, since August 2023, the Ortega and Murillo regime began to deploy a new modality of surveillance in the neighborhoods, under the facade of “Citizen and Human Security meetings” organized by the Police. These meetings were articulated with the extinct advice of Citizen Power (CPC), which summoned the neighbors in houses previously selected by their political affinity to the Sandinista Front. The dynamic made what seemed like a community meeting into a social control mechanism, reinforced with the massive presence of police officers.
The background of these meetings was not to listen to neighborhood concerns, but to establish a permanent point of contact between the police and the party structures of the regime.
“That means that people feel an observance that keeps them under constant pressure,” says Tefel for the country. “This contributes to the feeling of insecurity and the lack of freedoms. In themselves there are many rights that are not guaranteed in Nicaragua, and the fact of being monitored, not being able to complain about it, not to be able to express it openly for fear of being betrayed, exacerbate the sensation of repression in people.”
