Nicaragua quits two more international organizations

Nicaragua said Friday that it would leave the International Organization for Migration and the International Labour Organization, extending its retreat from multilateral bodies following criticism of its human rights record.

The two organizations “do not fulfill the mission for which they were created,” said Rosario Murillo, who co-governs with her husband, President Daniel Ortega.

“We reiterate our irrevocable, firm position of repudiation of all insults, offenses, falsehoods, aggressions, the double standard of colonialist politics that governs the actions” of these bodies, the 73-year-old added.

The announcement came a day after Ortega’s government said it was withdrawing from the UN Human Rights Council, after experts appointed by the organization accused Nicaragua of widespread repression.

It had previously said it was leaving the UN Food and Agriculture Organization in response to a report pointing to growing hunger in the Central American nation.

Murillo said the ILO had acted in a “politicized manner, lending itself to destabilization and interventionist maneuvers” when evaluating complaints from employers and employees of violations of labor rights.

The government accused the IOM of “false, malicious and irresponsible information” about Nicaragua in an annual report on migration.

Ortega, 79, has engaged in increasingly authoritarian practices, tightening control over all sectors of the state with the support of Murillo in what critics describe as a nepotistic dictatorship.

Ortega first served as president from 1985 to 1990 as a former guerrilla hero and returned to power in 2007.

Nicaragua has jailed hundreds of opponents, real and perceived, since then.

It has also shut down more than 5,000 non-governmental organizations since 2018 mass protests in which the United Nations estimates more than 300 people died.