Since 2007, the rule of law in Nicaragua has been dismantled under the Ortega-Murillo regime, erasing advances women had previously gained. The government demobilized women's police stations that once partnered with civil organizations to prevent violence, annulled Law 779 (which was established to prevent violence against women), and criminalized efforts to rebuild these systems. Notably, after 1990, Nicaragua was among the first in Latin America and the Caribbean to open Women's Commissariats at police stations as safe spaces for reporting violence.
In the past five years, following political crises and violence, the dictatorship has confiscated assets of over 212 women's and feminist organizations, shutting them down and making it illegal to reconstitute them or raise funds for their causes. Hundreds involved with these organizations have been forced into exile. The regime has subordinated the entire state apparatus to a family dynasty, eroding autonomy and gender parity previously achieved.
Violence against women has escalated, extending to femicide—a term that includes impunity and institutional violence due to state inaction. According to the regional registry of IM-Defensoras, women civil rights defenders have suffered over 8,000 attacks in five years, including illegal detentions, harassment, torture, and exile. More than 300 human rights defenders have been illegally detained, many of them women. Authoritarian regimes fear challengers, and women who defy the regime face double persecution for both challenging authority and participating politically.