The United Nations called on the international community to address alleged human rights violations by Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega's government in its efforts to consolidate power, a report released on Wednesday stated.
Ortega, a former leftist rebel who first took office in 1979 and returned in 2007, has been expanding his authority by overseeing judicial and legislative functions under his presidency while increasing state influence over the media.
The UN report accused Ortega and his wife, Rosario Murillo, who serves as the co-president, of turning Nicaragua into an authoritarian state devoid of independent institutions.
The UN experts recommended legal action against Nicaragua, citing human rights violations that they classified as crimes against humanity.
Despite previous reports from the UN and the Organization of American States, Ortega's government has dismissed them as part of an international campaign against it.
In 2018, Nicaragua saw widespread anti-government protests after Ortega's crackdown on dissent led to the deaths of more than 350 people, triggering global condemnation of human rights abuses.
The UN report implicated the Nicaraguan army in the violent suppression, contradicting previous denials.
Ortega, 79, unveiled a broad constitutional reform in November that granted sweeping powers to the executive branch, which since February has effectively eliminated any remaining institutional checks and balances, according to the UN report.
The reform, approved by legislators from Ortega's Sandinista Front, which holds a majority in Congress, allows either co-president to appoint an unlimited number of vice presidents, fueling speculation that Ortega and Murillo's eight children residing in Nicaragua could potentially be chosen for these roles.
Government supporters defend these reforms as an extension of a nearly 50-year-old revolution that began when Ortega and other leftist rebels overthrew a right-wing dynasty in 1979, establishing Nicaragua as a Cold War-era adversary of the United States.