The suppression of qualified electoral observation is a consequence of Nicaragua's democratic decline. The observation missions were among the actors who warned about the progressive evolution of Ortega's offensive.
The government has cancelled more than 950 NGOs, medical and educational associations, social works of the Catholic Church, and social and community development projects that support active citizenship, with the aim of installing a totalitarian regime.
Honduras and Nicaragua recently signed an agreement regarding sovereignty in the Gulf of Fonseca. This is Daniel Ortega's way of tacitly ignoring the ICJ ruling in The Hague and Juan Orlando Hernández's way of paving the way for the end of his term and the likely beginning of his international trial.
Nicaragua's government - controlled by President Ortega, his wife Murillo and the Sandinista National Liberation Front - is using new laws to arrest political rivals and harass independent media ahead of elections scheduled for November.
