Nicaragua: Documentation on human rights abuses directed against former members of Somoza's National Guard by Nicaraguan authorities; any information on the forced repatriation of such persons back to Nicaragua from other countries?

In the months following the fall of Somoza (July 1979), the Nicaraguan Government tried thousands of ex-National Guardsmen for crimes committed under the Somoza regime. Amnesty International has reported on the lack of numerous judicial guarantees in the trial proceedings of the Special Tribunals established to try the Somocistas. [ Amnesty International, Report of the Amnesty International Missions to the Republic of Nicaragua; August 1979, January 1980 and August 1980, (London: Amnesty International Publications, 1982).] Many of the ex-Guardsmen were convicted without the court clearly establishing the guilt of the individual involved; they were often convicted for crimes committed by the National Guard as an organization (see the attached section from the Amnesty International Report of the Amnesty International Missions to the Republic of Nicaragua, e.g. p. 36).

Allegations of the murder of National Guardsmen held prisoner during the first few days of the new Sandinista government have not been tied directly to the authorities. No evidence to suggest that the government supported the death, torture, or secret detention of former Guardsmen is available to the IRBDC at this time. [ Missions..., p. 37.] Shortly after the Sandinistas took power, the Interior Minister, Tom s Borge, announced that no executions or torture of ex-Guardsmen would be tolerated. [ Amnesty International, Report 1980, (London: Amnesty International Publications, 1980), p. 155.] However, four months later he revealed that over 100 National Guardsmen had been executed (reportedly without government sanction) in the first few days of Sandinista consolidation of rule, and that several hundred persons were subsequently arrested for the crimes. [ Ibid., p. 156.]

With the exception of 39 ex-National Guardsmen who were convicted of "`atrocious crimes' and had been violent or uncooperative in prison", the last 1,894 ex-National Guardsmen in Nicaraguan prisons were released in March 1989. [ Mark Uhlig, "Nicaragua Frees 1,894 Ex-Guardsmen", The New York Times, 18 March 1989.] Other ex-Guardsmen who fled to Honduras or Costa Rica to mount the contra war against the Sandinista government of Nicaragua would, presumably, be treated as contras in the context of the current conflict. During the 1980s, peasants suspected of collaboration with the contras have been arrested and detained under the provisions of the Law for the Maintenance of Public Order and Security. However, this law has now been abrogated in preparation for the February 1990 elections, [ "Obstacles to Nicaraguan Elections Removed", Christian Science Monitor, 9 August 1989.] and the Nicaraguan government has begun the release of the approximately 1200 prisoners accused of contra collaboration. [ "Sandinistas free 29 jailed peasants", The Globe and Mail, 17 August 1989.]

No information on the forced repatriation of ex-National Guardsmen to Nicaragua, or their subsequent treatment, is available to the IRBDC at the present time. The first of a series of amnesties extended to contras (a number of whom are former National Guardsmen) was announced by the Nicaraguan government in December 1983. It was originally intended only for indigenous contra fighters, but the government allowed all contra troops (with the exception of the leaders) to take advantage of the amnesty a couple of days later. [ "U.S. put on the spot by `surprise' Sandinista move", Latin America Weekly Report, WR-83-48, 9 December 1983, p. 3.] The most recent amnesty was arranged during the ceasefire talks at Sapoa on 23 March 1988. One of the nine points in the agreement guaranteed the reincorporation of Nicaraguan exiles and contras into the "political, economic and social processes" without being "judged, sanctioned or persecuted" for prior activities. [ "Text of the Sapoa agreement", Latin America Weekly Report, 7 April 1988, p. 3.] According to the Nicaraguan human rights monitor, CNPPDH, by January 1988 more than 4,000 contras had accepted the terms of the amnesty. [ Pax Christi International, p. 132, citing the Comisión Nacional de Promoción de los Derechos Humanos, Informe para la Comisión Internacional de Verificación y Seguimiento (CIVS) sobre la Situación de Derechos Humanos en Nicaragua, (Managua, 5 January 1988), p. 21.] Pax Christi International reported that former contras could claim a piece of land, and that, while reintegration was not easy, ex-contras "are accepted back in their community without insurmountable problems." [ Pax Christi International, Human Rights in Central America, (Antwerp: Pax Christi International, 1988), pp. 132-133.] According to Pax Christi, following the Esquipulas II agreement local reception centres were set up for contras accepting amnesty, with "local and regional commissions set up to ensure that the rights of former contras are not violated." [ Ibid., p. 133.] Recently, high profile contras have accepted the amnesty and returned to Nicaragua in preparation for the February 1990 elections.

One statement which may be of specific interest to you is from Refugee Reports, wherein the "Washington Post cited Nicaraguan sources as saying that some of the [300 Nicaraguans expelled by Honduras] had been jailed and others conscripted into the Sandinista army upon their [forced] return [from Honduras]." [ U.S. Committee for Refugees, Refugee Reports, (Washington, 14 October 1988), p. 10. ] However, it should be noted that the government has now agreed to suspend conscription between 1 September 1989 and the elections in February 1990.

Attachments:

-               Mark Uhlig, "Nicaragua Frees 1,894 Ex-Guardsmen", The New York Times, 18 March 1989.

-               Amnesty International, Report 1980, London: Amnesty International Publications, 1980.

-               Amnesty International, Report of the Amnesty International Missions to the Republic of Nicaragua; August 1979, January 1980 and August 1980, London: Amnesty International Publications, 1982.