During Pandemic, Nicaraguan Doctors Face Political Pressure

During Pandemic, Nicaraguan Doctors Face Political Pressure
Relatives of patients wait in line to enter the Aleman-Nicaraguense Hospital which cares people infected with the novel Covid-19 coronavirus in Managua on June 1, 2020. INTI OCON/AFP via Getty Images
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MANAGUA, Nicaragua—Inside Nicaragua’s public hospitals, the walls are plastered with political propaganda, ruling-party activists ensure no information leaks out, and doctors were once forbidden to wear masks.

While the Pan-American Health Organization urges Nicaragua to take more aggressive measures against the coronavirus pandemic, and neighboring countries warily eye its outbreak, President Daniel Ortega’s increasingly authoritarian government seems more focused on hiding the virus than treating it.