Summary
Nicaragua ranked 47th in 2019’s Peoples under Threat index and rose 27 places from 2018’s ranking. After years of relative stability, Nicaragua is a new entrant and the country that has leapt furthest up the Peoples under Threat rankings. From April to August 2018, President Daniel Ortega’s government brutally quashed protests against increasingly unpopular policies… Read more »
Peoples Under Threat Data
| 2019 Data | Peoples under Threat value |
|---|---|
| Self-determination conflicts | 2 |
| Major armed conflict | 1 |
| Prior genocide / politicide | No data |
| Flight of refugees and IDPs | 0.0 |
| Legacy of vengeance - group grievance | 6.2 |
| Rise of factionalized elites | 7.1 |
| Voice and Accountability | -0.719 |
| Political Stability | -0.045 |
| Rule of Law | -0.645 |
| OECD country risk classification | 7 |
| TOTAL | 10.26 |
The overall measure for each country is based on a basket of 10 indicators. The number in each row is drawn from the source for that particular indicator. The sources of data and calculations used are detailed on the Notes to Table page.
Background
Nicaragua ranked 47th in 2019’s Peoples under Threat index and rose 27 places from 2018’s ranking.
After years of relative stability, Nicaragua is a new entrant and the country that has leapt furthest up the Peoples under Threat rankings. From April to August 2018, President Daniel Ortega’s government brutally quashed protests against increasingly unpopular policies related to social reform and plans to hand over power to his wife, Rosario Murillo, in the 2021 elections. Hundreds of thousands of Nicaraguans took to the streets across the country, aided by the organizational and mobilizational power of Facebook and Twitter in a context where coverage of events was censored from the air and journalists repressed. Harsh measures by security forces and pro-government paramilitaries caused nearly 500 deaths and several thousand injuries. According to the Organization of American States, these acts – including extra-judicial killings, torture, sexual violence and arbitrary arrests – constituted crimes against humanity. Killings and abductions of indigenous people by illegal settlers in the North Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region have also quietly continued.