ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the extent to which the practices of the government of Nicaragua do and do not respect the human rights of Nicaragua's citizens. For the people of Nicaragua the policies and practices of that government demonstrates a pattern of systematic repression which began soon after the Sandinista triumph in July, 1979 and has intensified with the progressive consolidation of power by Nicaragua's one-party dictatorship. Mr. Chairman, there are serious obstacles to a clear assessment of the practices relevant to human rights in Nicaragua. Freedom from floods, freedom from bad soil and low crop yields, freedom from counterrevolutionaries, freedom from responsibility for their own lives, these are the human rights cited by Nicaragua's government to justify their claims to decide by force where the Miskitos should live, when they should move, in what language their children should be educated, which dangers they should confront.
