2013 Criminalization of Protests and Mining Opposition Movements

After the arrival of B2Gold and its subsidiary, Desarrollo Minero de Nicaragua S.A. (DESMINIC S.A.), in the Department of Chontales, there were several reported cases of criminalization, violence, threats, and forced displacement against local residents and opponents of large scale mining, particularly in the municipality of Santo Domingo (CENIDH, 2013; Revista Envío, 2013). In 2012, residents of Santo Domingo wrote to the Nicaraguan Centre on Human Rights (CENIDH) to request support and advice in their struggle against the mine.

In September 2012, residents of Santo Domingo protested against the arrival of B2Gold, in part, because it extracted large quantities of gold from local deposits, which led to the contamination of water sources, damaged acquifers, and threatened the economic livelihoods of approximately 3,600 people who worked in the small-scale mining industry. The protestors erected an encampment to prevent the company from continuing with its operation. The protestors included representatives from small scale, artisanal mining organizations, such as El Cafetal (the Coffee Plantation), Sector La Cuatro (Sector Four), Lavadores del Barrio Pancasán 1 (Washers of the Pancasán Neighbourhood 1),  Lavadores del Barrio Pancasán 2  (Washers of the Pancasán Neighbourhood 2), Lavadores del Barrio Carlos Fonseca (Washers of the Carlos Fonseca Neighbourhood), and the Save Santo Domingo Environmental Movement (MASSD). Negotiations between the company and these groups was mediated by the Chief of the National Police of Chontales. Departmental and municipal representatives of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) were also present at the negotiations. Ultimately, the representatives of El Cafetal (The Coffee Plantation), Lavadores del Barrio Carlos Fonseca (Washers of the Carlos Fonesca Neighbourhood), and the Save Santo Domingo Environmental Movement (MASSD) withdrew from the negotiations because they were held at the police station where, upon their arrival, they were seized, photographed, and pressured to enter into agreements. These groups advised that they would only engage in negotiations if mediated by the local parish priest and the elected mayor of Santo Domingo (CENIDH, 2013). The protest continued for 105 Days (Envío Digital, 2013, No. 381).

In the early morning of 9 February 2013, approximately 200 anti-riot officers violently evicted and detained more than 50 representatives of El Cafetal [The Coffee Plantation] and the Save Santo Domingo Environmental Movement (MASSD) who were at the encampment blocking B2Gold workers. According to reports, approximately 141 persons were injured by police and others fled to the hills in fear of being arrested and detained (Ibid). Of those detained, some were held in Juigalpa while twelve leaders of the MASSD were transfered to the jails of the Legal Cooperation Department (DAJ) in Managua. This detention centre, known as “La Loma” or “El Chipote”, was used during the time of the dictatorship to hold political prisoners who were tortured and killed. Since then, it has generally been used for high risk detainees or those accused of committing serious crimes. Those detained by the DAJ were prohibited from receiving visits from their families or lawyers (Ibid). 

A hearing for those detained by the DAJ was held on 25 February 2013, where the matter was referred to trial and the detained were ordered to remain in pre-trial detention. During this hearing, the Nicaraguan Centre for Human Rights (CENIDH) contested the presence of a member of the Nicaraguan military who remained throughout the proceeding (CENIDH, 2013). In a report, dated March 2013,  CENIDH called on the Chief Comissioner and the Chief of the National Police to review the disproportionate, arbitrary and illegitimate use of police force against Santo Domingo residents who engaged in protests for the defence of human rights, adding that the action of the police had only caused danger, illegal detentions and fear among residents, and favoured the interests of B2Gold (Ibid). CENIDH also called for, among other things, a review of the exact basis of the charges laid against the detainees, including the crimes of threats, aggravated injuries, minor injuries, obstruction of public officials, and usurpation of private property, among charges. CENIDH also called for the Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources (MARENA), along with other relevant authorities, to consider the rights and interests of local residents and to take the necessary steps to stop the negative consequences of open pit mining (Ibid). In April 2013, after more than a month in prison and pressure to end their protests the remaining detainees were released (OMCT and FIDH, 2014). In 2014, a group of residents from Santo Domingo brought a civil action for injuries arising from the actions of the police on 9 February 2013 (CENIDH, 2014).

According to Mario Sánchez González (2016), the socio-environmental and economic conflicts surrounding La Libertad Mine are due, in part, to non-compliance with the Law on the Environment and Natural Resources (No. 217), the General Environmental Law, and Decree 76-2006 on the System of Environmental Evaluation (repealed and replaced by Decree No. 20-2017; See the Legal Action, entitled “1997-2017 Nicaraguan Mining and related Laws” for further information regarding the status of these laws). The introduction of the Sovereign Security Law of the Republic of Nicaragua in December 2015 has also contributed to  the “institutionaliz[ation] [of] the criminalization of any act of protest, such as peaceful demonstrations, which ‘have been the main form of demanding rights in Nicaragua'” (DAR, 2017).

More generally, in the context of national political and social unrest that began in April 2018, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) expressed “concern” regarding “an adverse environment for social protest, through a strategy of criminalization and stigmatization” (IACHR, 2018). It noted occurances of deaths and injuries of protestors, arbitrary detention, and labelling of protestors as “terrorists” or accusing them of “attempting to overthrow the government” (Ibid). In September 2018, the Nicaraguan National Police declared public demonstrations illegal and “deployed riot police against anti-government protestors attempting to exercise their basic right to peaceful dissent” (WOLA, 2018). While these events are not directly related to protests against La Libertad mine, they form an important part of the context in which mining opposition may occur and are likely to impact ongoing social mobilisation efforts to oppose its operations in Santo Domingo and La Libertad.