Nicaragua Exits Central American Parliament as Ortega-Murillo Government Deepens Regional Isolation

Nicaragua has notified the Central American Parliament that it is withdrawing from the regional body, effective immediately, according to an announcement issued by the country's Foreign Ministry on Saturday. The move marks the latest in a series of departures from multilateral institutions by the government of President Daniel Ortega and his wife and co-president, Rosario Murillo.

The Central American Parliament, known by its Spanish acronym Parlacen, was established to advance human rights and democratic governance across the isthmus. Nicaragua's exit removes it from a six-nation bloc that has long served as a forum for regional political cooperation and dispute resolution.

In its statement, the Nicaraguan government described the decision as an exercise "in the full exercise of its sovereignty." Officials in Managua have consistently characterized such international bodies as instruments of outside intervention, arguing that they meddle in domestic affairs under the guise of human rights advocacy.

The withdrawal came just one day after the Organization of American States approved a resolution calling on Nicaragua to restore civil rights and release political prisoners. That vote, taken on Friday, added fresh pressure on the Ortega-Murillo administration, which has faced mounting international criticism over its treatment of opponents and independent voices.

Nicaragua's departure from Parlacen follows earlier exits from major international organizations. The country left the Organization of American States in 2023 and withdrew from the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2025, both moves made in response to criticism of its domestic human rights record.

The government's accountability record has drawn sustained scrutiny from international monitors. A United Nations report published in September found that Nicaraguan authorities bore responsibility for at least eight deaths in custody dating back to 2018, the year Ortega launched a sweeping crackdown on protests and dissent.

That report also raised questions about the official explanations given for several in-custody deaths, including that of Brooklyn Rivera, an Indigenous Miskito leader and prominent government critic. Rivera spent 32 months in detention with only minimal contact with his family before his death in May.

Nicaraguan officials attributed Rivera's death to complications from a prior case of COVID-19. Physicians for Human Rights rejected that account, calling it "not medically coherent." The group's chair, Jan-Michael Simon, said the case illustrated a broader pattern, stating that a state which employs enforced disappearance and permits detainees to die in its custody fails to meet the minimum human rights standards required for credible democratic governance.

The United States has also weighed in on the situation. In July, Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a statement labeling Nicaragua's government a "dictatorship" after it announced plans to abolish upcoming elections. Rubio described the Ortega-Murillo administration as a threat to US national security and said the decision to eliminate elections demonstrated fear of the Nicaraguan people's will.

However, the Trump administration has itself faced criticism over its handling of Nicaraguan exiles. Human Rights Watch recently reported that US authorities had detained eight Nicaraguan nationals for possible deportation, seven of whom were among a group of 222 political prisoners flown into exile in the United States in February 2023 under former President Joe Biden.

After that earlier transfer, Nicaragua stripped the former prisoners of their citizenship and labeled them traitors. The Ortega government also confiscated any property they held inside the country, effectively severing their ties to their homeland.

Human Rights Watch has urged Washington not to send the eight detainees back, warning that they could face abuse if returned to Nicaragua. Four of those detained are said to have pending asylum cases in the United States.

Juanita Goebertus, the Americas director at Human Rights Watch, said the situation was a stark reversal, noting that the United States had offered refuge to these critics of the Nicaraguan government only three years ago and was now detaining them and threatening deportation. She added that international law prohibits returning anyone to a place where they face persecution or torture, and that US authorities should not attempt to send these men back into danger.

Taken together, the developments underscore how thoroughly Nicaragua's relations with regional and international institutions have unraveled. Each withdrawal narrows the channels through which foreign governments and multilateral bodies can raise concerns about governance and rights inside the country, leaving fewer formal avenues for dialogue or oversight.

For the Ortega-Murillo government, the exits are presented as affirmations of national independence. For critics and human rights organizations, they represent an accelerating retreat from the very commitments that regional bodies like Parlacen were created to uphold, deepening the country's isolation across Latin America and beyond.