Monopolizing death:
Or how to frame a government by inflating a list of the dead
By Enrique Hendrix
Presidential Decree No. 03-2018, "On Amendments to Decree No. 975 General
Regulation of the Social Security Law" issued on April 18th, was the perfect pretext for
the Opposition to initiate a series of protests that began to escalate. Four days later, in
the face of acts of violence and an estimated 23 deaths, President Daniel Ortega
decided, on April 22nd, to repeal the Presidential Decree that had served as a catalyst
for what looked like an explosion of social unrest. In that same announcement he called
for a National Dialogue as an instrument to restore the security, stability and peace of
Nicaraguan families, address the situation of the Social Security system and the
possible inclusion of tax reforms for discussion. He also invited Cardinal Leopoldo
Brenes to participate in the National Dialogue with a delegation from the Episcopal
Conference so that it would serve as guarantor and witness. However, despite the
repeal of the decree that triggered the protests and despite the willingness of the
Government to seek a solution through the National Dialogue, the protests continued.
The Human Rights organizations began their work of compiling the names of the
deceased citizens within the context of the protests. Three organizations stand out: The
Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (CENIDH), the first body to pronounce itself;
the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (CIDH), whose participation was
requested by the government of Nicaragua on May 13th; and the Nicaraguan
Association for Human Rights (ANPDH), the body that has been most active in
relation to the death list.
The Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (CENIDH - founded in 1990 and of which
Mrs. Vilma Núñez de Escorcia is president) has issued three reports corresponding to
different time periods in the context of the protests. The First Report issued on May 4,
covers April 19th to May 4th; The Second Report issued on May 17th, covers May 1st to
May 15th; and the Third Report issued on June 18th, covers May 16th to June 18th.
The CENIDH list is not presented as a chart or a table, but as a section within each
report which is titled "Killed and wounded as a result of government repression and
violence." Note that this title irresponsibly and arbitrarily asserts that the deaths are a
direct consequence of the violence on the part of the Government. In the third and last
report issued, it is indicated that the total of deaths is 178 citizens, however the First
Report includes the names of 45 dead citizens, the Second Report 12 citizens and the
Third Report 110, so that the total of the three reports is one hundred and sixty-seven
(167) dead on June 18th and not 178.
On May 21st, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (CIDH – an
autonomous body of the Organization of American States) presented Preliminary
Observations on its working visit to Nicaragua from May 17th to 21st and in the context
of the protests beginning on April 18th. Those observations did not include a list of
citizens who had died in at the scene of the protests. It was not until June 22nd that the
CIDH presented its Final Report on its visit to Nicaragua before the Permanent Council
of the Organization of American States (OAS), a report in which the list of decedents
was attached, accounting for a total of Two Hundred Twelve (212). This appendix is
entitled: "List of deceased persons in Nicaragua since the beginning of the protests
(April 19 - June 19, 2018)". Note the cynical euphemism of "deceased in Nicaragua
since the beginning of the protests", that is, every person who died from April 19th to
June 19th, promoting the decontextualization of the same, regardless of the causes and
circumstances of the death of each of them and as we will indicate later.
On June 26, the Nicaraguan Association for Human Rights (ANPDH - founded in
Miami in 1986 and of which Monsignor Abelardo Mata is president emeritus) issued a
document entitled: "Preliminary Report of Nicaraguan Citizens Killed in Civic Protest as
a Human Rights and Executed by Armed Groups (Paramilitary or Shock Forces) for the
period: 04/19/2018 to 6/25/2018. (66 calendar days)". Note that the title shares the
same editorial line of the CENIDH, affirming irresponsibly and arbitrarily that all the
deaths occurred in the context of "Civic Protest" and likewise attributes their deaths to
"Executions by Armed Groups (Paramilitaries or Shock Forces) ". The preliminary report
of the ANPDH counted a death toll of 285.
It should be noted that these reports have inconsistencies and omissions in terms of
names with incomplete data, inaccurate names or boxes with the indication "No
Information" or "Under Investigation". This denotes the lack of disposition and a lack of
ability in actual case-by-case investigation, with results limited to information gathered
from journalistic sources and those accepted in complaints without no willingness to
corroborate the data.
Deaths Decontextualized
A recurrent feature in the lists is the removal from context each one of the dead and
adjudging them as victims of the "repression" on the part of the government. In fact, the
lists include victims of traffic accidents, altercations between gangs, murders by
robbery, those killed by accidental firing of a firearm and even more absurdly, a suicide.
This is evidence of a campaign that, in the absence of a just cause, uses the death of
every citizen as a motive to manipulate the emotions of the population in order to
counterpose “the people” against “the people.”
It is necessary to know the set of circumstances surrounding the death of each citizen to
understand whether that death has any direct or indirect relationship to the protests.
For the purposes of this article, we define "Death Not Directly Related to Protests" as
those deaths that occurred outside the scenario of a demonstration, a confrontation
involving protesters, the attack or destruction of institutional targets (or FSLN
supporters), or the looting of shops.
The adverb "directly” is used to distinguish these deaths from those caused indirectly.
As the product of the political and social destabilization imposed on the country, crime
has been empowered, taking ground, directly affecting Nicaraguan society and causing
deaths, which although not connected to the protests are an indirect consequence of
them.
Therefore, efforts will be made to identify the quantities corresponding to the following
variables from the death lists of the three organizations:
Repeated Names
Deaths Not Directly Related to Protests
People murdered by the Opposition
Protesters (protesters, opponents, opposition activists operating roadblocks...)
Bystanders (uninvolved in the protests)
Names with insufficient data to determine the context of the death
Deaths omitted from each list
The list of each report was verified name by name with information gathered from
newspaper articles and press releases from the National Police. The biggest weakness
is that many media outlets are diverting, omitting or manipulating information for political
purposes.
The following web pages correspond to most of the sources used to cross-check the
lists:
To verify the context in which the citizens cited in each list died, a matrix was drawn up
that sought to identify the full name, photo, age, profession, place of death, reason for
death, context, observations and the sources for each case. The matrix is available at
the following link:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1wAiENa7qE_wDWV8KwYbquYEkJxeFsfQS
As for its list, from its three reports, it is possible to identify one hundred and sixty-seven
(167) dead as of June 18th. The CENIDH seems to be the most prudent organization in
terms of attributing to the Government responsibility for the death of these citizens
because upon verification the lists were found to have few duplicated names; the
reports try to provide sound information on the context of the death of each of the
citizens; and few cases lack incomplete data.
The CENIDH list is not presented as a chart or table but as a section within each report,
section entitled: "Killed and wounded as a result of government repression and
violence". The names are grouped in chronological order, without reference numbers,
and describe at least the full name, age, description of the context of the death and
where it took place. For example:
“May 16th
Noel Calderón Lagos, 19 years old, wounded by a bullet due to the repression
at the UPOLI at dawn on May 16th. From Department of Managua.”
Regarding the repeated names, 4 citizens were duplicated in the reports. On two
occasions, the same name was mentioned in two different reports. In one case the
name was incorrectly identified; and in another, a pseudonym of a citizen who had
already been mentioned was added.
The following chart indicates the repeated names and the report which corresponds to
each one on the list:
Humberto Antonio
Report 2 40 5/15 Managua
Parrales Reyes
Humberto Antonio
Report 3 39 5/16 Managua
Parrales Reyes
We proceed to subtract from the repeated names from the total amount of deaths (167),
leaving the figure at 163 deaths.
From the investigation into the context of the citizens’ deaths cited by the CENIDH, it
was verified that at least 19 citizens died for reasons not directly related to the
protests.
Attempting to identify the circumstances in which these 19 citizens died, we can note:
Excluding the deaths that are not directly related to the protests, we now have a 144 out
of all of the names that must be verified.
While carrying out the verification of the deaths, 44 comrades were identified as
having been killed by the opposition. The inclusion of these names was ill-
intentioned. Although in some cases the context of the death was briefly mentioned, the
opposition has developed media propaganda which takes the deaths out of context in
an attempt to spread the unconscious idea that the acts and responsibilities of the
opposition must be assumed by the government.
The names of the 44 people and context in which they were murdered correspond to:
Excluding the repeated names, the citizens who died for reasons not directly related to
the protests and the people murdered by the opposition, the total number of deaths is
reduced to 100 people.
The CENIDH reports contain 48 names which lack information related to the person’s
age and/or where the death occurred, which reduces the credibility of the information
reflected by the CENIDH. However, the verification which was carried out was able to
obtain the data for 34 out of the 48 citizens with incomplete information. As for the
remaining 14 in this group, little information was found about 4 people, who only appear
in the CENIDH report and whose names were disclosed by the same organization.
Likewise, 10 citizens were identified whose contexts of death have not been verified.
That is why they appear listed as 14 Names with Incomplete Data. All of these are
noted in the spreadsheet that is referred to at the beginning of this document.
Accounting for the people with incomplete data, the CENIDH can count just 86 people
on their list of deaths, 35 of whom are considered to be citizens not involved in the
protests; Nicaraguans who were just passing by and got trapped in a confrontation,
victims of a bullet within the parameters of the protests, or random attacks outside of the
context of the protests; and 51 citizens directly involved in the protests.
In the CENIDH reports, the deaths of 16 citizens are not included. They are excluded
for unknown reasons, which hints at the organization’s lack of capacity to investigate. Of
these 16 citizens, 15 were murdered by the opposition and one was not involved.
The citizens omitted from the list correspond to events directly related to the protests
and are the following:
From the three CENIDH reports, which claim that the Nicaraguan government is
responsible for the deaths of 167 citizens, it has been made possible to contextualize
the majority of the deaths (exactly 93%, which corresponds to 153 citizens). The data
for the remaining 8% (14 citizens) remains incomplete or inexact, so it has not been
possible to determine the context in which they died. From this review, the following
variables are identified:
Of the inconsistencies and irregularities that were identified, it can be mentioned that
there are duplicated names, decontextualized deaths and names without complete data
(even one without more information than a pseudonym).
In relation to duplicated names, 9 repeat citizens were detected, whose names were not
correctly identified in different media. Due to this inaccurate identification by the media
at the time they issued the information is that some names and surnames do not agree
exactly, however, upon verification it is concluded that they coincide in the same
person.
In the following table the duplicated names are indicated by the reference number (Ref.)
that corresponds to each one in the list:
CIDH - Repeated Names
Date of
Ref. Name Age Location
Occurrence
12 Marlon Maneses Martínez Ramírez 28 4/20 Managua
Ciudad
23 Marlon Maneses Ramírez Sandino 20 4/20
Sandino
No
120 Marvin Meléndez Linarte informati 5/30 Chinandega
on
123 Marvin Meléndez Núñez 49 5/31 Managua
With this data, the list is reduced to 203 people. However, while inquiring about the
context in which many of the citizens listed died, it was verified that at least 27 citizens
died for reasons that were not directly related to the protests.
Attempting to identify the circumstances in which these 27 citizens died, we can note:
Subtracting the repeated names of citizens and the deaths not directly related to the
protests, the list is now reduced to 176 people.
It is interesting to find the possibility of a dead person, identified in the list with reference
number 117 and corresponding to the name "Víctor José Valerio López", who turns out
to be the brother of a deceased involved in the protests, Jonathan Steven Valerio López
(No. 44) and who was participating in the rallies for the death of his brother at the Jean
Paul Genie rotonda.
The CIDH included in its list the death of 49 comrades murdered directly by the
Opposition and, as indicated above with regard to the CENIDH list, here again there is
a malicious inclusion that was made without determining the context in which they died,
fomenting in the population, through the media propaganda, the unconscious idea that
the actions and responsibilities of the opposition must be assumed by the State.
The names of the 44 people and context in which they were murdered correspond to:
173 Jean Kerry Luna Gutiérrez 29 6/14 Managua National Police Patrol.
Excluding the repeated names, citizens that died for reasons unrelated to the protests
and the comrades murdered by the opposition, the list is now reduced to 127 names.
In this list, there are 59 names without information in one or more boxes about age, date
of death, and location. It is negligent to attribute these citizens’ deaths, whose
information is inexact or whose cause of death is unknown, to the State. Nonetheless,
information on the deaths of 22 of the 59 was obtained through this verification. In
relation to the 37 remaining names of this group, there was not a single reference found
for 28 of the names; they appear only in the CIDH list (and the majority are included
later in the ANPDH list). There were nine citizens who had unverifiable causes of death.
For this reason they make up the list of 37 names with insufficient information. All of
these notes have references in the spreadsheet referred to at the beginning of this
document.
At this point the list would have only 89 names, of which 38 correspond to citizens
not involved in protests, bystanders, and victims of bullets with at protests or attacked
but not related to the protests; and 52 citizens involved in the protests.
It is clear that the CIDH’s fieldwork was limited to receiving the opposition’s demands
and its media, as the Chancellor Denis Moncada pointed out in his speech during the
presentation of the Final Report before the Permanent Council of the Organization of
American States (OAS): “The majority of the information sources cited by the CIDH
come from agencies and media that is in opposition to the government, whose news is
false and manipulated”.
Of the list from the CIDH report, the deaths of 16 citizens were not included. The
exclusion was made for unknown reasons and that only hints at the lack of research
capacity of the CIDH team in Nicaragua. Of those 16 citizens, 11 were murdered by the
opposition, two were protestors and three were not involved.
The omitted citizens from the list correspond to events related to the protest and are the
following:
From the Appendix “List of deaths in Nicaragua since the start of the protests (19 April-
19 June 2018)” of the Final Report presented by the CIDH in which the Nicaraguan
Government is judged to be responsible for the death of 212 citizens, the majority of the
deaths have been contextualized, exactly 83% or 175 citizens. The remaining 17% (37
citizens) have insufficient information to determine the cause of death. From this review,
the following variables are identified:
The inconsistencies and irregularities that were identified are the same as in the two
previous reports (CENIDH and CIDH): duplicated deaths, decontextualized deaths and
names without complete data (again some have no more than a pseudonym).
In relation to the duplicated deaths, 2 repeated citizens were detected corresponding to:
The list is reduced to 283, In verifying the context in which citizens died, we find that at
least 49 citizens died under circumstances unrelated to the protests directly,
among which we include:
The following table identifies the circumstances in which each of the above citizens
died:
With the information from the Deaths Not Related Directly to Protests, the list is reduced
to 234 people.
As the other bodies (CENIDH and CIDH) have done, ANPDH also included in its list the
death of comrades murdered by the Opposition, which is how the list of 60 people
directly murdered by the opposition was calculated.
The names and context in which the 60 people were murdered are listed here:
One particularity of the ANPDH list is that it included 23 unidentified citizens, who
supposedly have photos, journalistic notes, and/or documentary evidence, which were
not included in the Preliminary Report. From the verification, a minor (reference number
285) was identified who died from bronchial aspiration after presenting respiratory
problems in an ambulance that was stopped at a roadblock in Masatepe.
On the list, there are a minimum of 102 names with blank boxes and/or listed under
“investigation” in one or more boxes referring to identification, age, cause of death,
location and date. From the verification process, 53 of the 102 citizens on the list were
found to have incomplete information. In relation to the 49 remaining from this group,
there was no reference to determine the cause of the death. So, there are 49 names
with incomplete data on the list. These notes are all included in the spreadsheet.
At this point the list would have only 103 names, of which 45 are of citizens not
involved in protests; bystanders, victims of bullets with at protests or attacked but not
related to the protests; and 58 citizens involved directly in protests.
From the ANPDH list, the death of 5 citizens were not included for unknown reasons.
As is clear from this untangling of the data, the human rights organizations have
monopolized the deaths of citizens and share the same variables so as to inflate the
lists of the dead. Looking at the way the lists are configured, the average inflation rate is
53% as regards the real number of victims of the protests. That percentage can be
disaggregated as follows : 3% repeated names; 20% deaths not directly related to the
protests; and 30% cases with incomplete, imprecise or non-existent data.
The formula one might use to define the estimate quantity increasing a list of dead
people would be as follows:
Where,
The need to increase the deaths and include them in the context of the protests is
related to the specific objective of stoking peoples emotions so as to create discord and
delegitimize the government
The equation is used so as to obtain a speculative number and on that basis to inflate
the list of people dead using numbers readily manipulated according to the criteria of
each organization.
…and that is how one inflates a list of the dead so as to discredit a government.