Key facts
- Nicaraguan families are seeking information about loved ones who have disappeared into state custody.
- Carlos Brenes, a retired colonel and critic of President Daniel Ortega, and his wife Salvadora Martinez disappeared in August 2025.
- Human rights groups report at least 31 victims of enforced disappearance in Nicaragua as of late September.
- UN experts have documented a systematic attack against civilians including imprisonment, torture, and persecution.
- At least eight political detainees have died in state custody since 2018, and 161 cases of enforced disappearance have been verified since April 2018.
- Victor Boitano, another former colonel and government critic, disappeared in April 2024.
Nicaraguan families are pleading with authorities for information about loved ones who have vanished into state custody, with human rights groups reporting at least 31 victims of enforced disappearance as of late September. The government of President Daniel Ortega has not responded to detailed questions regarding these cases, which rights advocates say are part of a systematic strategy to sow fear.
Retired Army Colonel Carlos Brenes, 71, and his wife, Salvadora Martinez, 69, disappeared from their rural property south of Managua in August 2025. Their daughter, Thelma Brenes, living in the Netherlands, asked a neighbor to check on them after they failed to return her messages. The neighbor found the house empty, and local residents later told Brenes they had seen police escorting the couple away. The family has since pleaded with authorities for information but has received none.
Carlos Brenes is known as an outspoken critic of President Ortega, while Martinez is a homemaker with no known political involvement. Thelma Brenes described the situation as a form of torture for family members.
Human rights groups like Memoria y Justicia, led by Nicaraguans in exile, stated that as of the end of September, at least 68 people were imprisoned in Nicaragua for political reasons, including 31 victims of enforced disappearance. The UN defines enforced disappearance as the deprivation of liberty by state agents, followed by concealment of the person’s whereabouts. Families report that Nicaraguan authorities rarely confirm arrests, schedule court hearings, or provide information.
UN experts investigating human rights in Nicaragua have documented imprisonment, torture, and persecution on political grounds as part of a widespread and systematic attack against civilians. They reported that at least eight people detained for political reasons have died in state custody since the political crackdown began in 2018 and verified 161 cases of enforced disappearance since April 2018.
The Ortega government has dismissed critics as "fascists" and "coup mongers" and has not commented on the accusations of disappearances. The UN has received no official response from Managua to requests for comment sent since 2018. Reed Brody, a member of the UN Group of Human Rights Experts on Nicaragua, stated that the government uses enforced disappearance as a deliberate strategy to sow fear.
Carlos Brenes, a former member of the Sandinista National Liberation Front who helped overthrow the Somoza dictatorship, became disillusioned with Ortega around 1992 and retired from the Army. He joined mass protests against the Sandinista government in 2018, was jailed on terrorism charges for 10 months, and then disappeared in 2025. The Inter-American Court of Human Rights reported unofficially that Brenes and Martinez were tried for treason and sentenced to 15 years in prison, though the family was not informed of the proceedings. The Court has called on the Nicaraguan government to protect the couple and provide information.
Victor Boitano, 65, another ex-Sandinista and former colonel who accused the government of corruption, was arrested without a warrant at his home in April 2024. His wife, Eugenia Valle, witnessed the arrest and stated she was hit by an officer. Boitano disappeared into the prison system, and Valle was unable to find him after searching multiple prisons. Six months after his disappearance, Valle fled the country. Now in exile in Italy, she worries about her husband, who suffers from hypertension and diabetes, stating, "We don't know what's happening, how he is, or where he is."