On October 2, Foreign Ministers across the Americas convened in a meeting of the Organisation of Americas States (OAS) and approved a resolution outlining demands to restore freedom and political rights in Nicaragua, including the release of all political prisoners and the disclosure of the whereabouts of forcibly disappeared persons. Just days prior, the Mechanism for the Recognition of Political Prisoners and the UN Group of Human Rights Experts on Nicaragua (GHREN) revealed their latest findings that fifteen women have been arrested and remain missing for political reasons in Nicaragua. This reflects a sharp rise in enforced disappearances, and a fivefold increase in those missing being women. Neither trend is coincidental: they represent a tactical shift by the dictatorship to evade the very scrutiny displayed at the OAS, allowing the regime to tighten its grip on power at a moment when authoritarian regimes in Latin America face unprecedented pressure.
