Nicaragua - March 2024
Government restricts political expression in concerts
Through a ministerial decree, the Ortega Government has issued new restrictions to musical and artistic performances, which effectively bans political expression in concerts. The decree, Ministerial Agreement 05-2004, impedes both national and foreign performers from expressing or promoting ideas related to politics. It establishes the obligation of performers and producers to enlist in a registry and grants the Ministry of the Interior the ability to authorize or deny any production. Both the artistic community and Nicaraguan human rights defenders have decried the measure, and fear authorizations may be denied arbitrarily.
