The unit overseeing public employee purges in the Comptroller’s office

DIVERGENTES has confirmed that the Office of the Comptroller General, under orders from Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo, is leading investigations in various public offices, ultimately resulting in mass firings. This unit operates alongside officials from the National Economic Police, the Ministry of the Interior, and political secretaries. “They move into any state office and work for weeks. No one can question them, and they get everything they request. In the end, employees with unjustified contracts or officials involved in corruption not reported to central leadership are dismissed,” said a source from the Ministry of the Interior

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In Mauricio’s office, everyone was worried about losing their job. News of an upcoming visit from officials at the Office of the Comptroller General (CGR) made him and his colleagues anxious. “People are definitely going to be fired,” he said over the phone from Managua. That conversation took place on a Monday in May 2024. Three months later, the nightmare became a reality.

“They came in, asked for information, and about three weeks later, on a Monday, around 35 people were fired. No explanation was given. Not even the boss intervened,” says Mauricio, who anonymously shares his testimony.

Mauricio and his coworkers weren’t alone in their fear. This year, the CGR has intervened in many Sandinista government institutions, investigating and auditing public offices before carrying out mass purges of state employees.

First the audit, then the guillotine

Sources consulted by DIVERGENTES explained that the CGR works alongside the Economic Police, the Ministry of the Interior (MINT), and political secretaries of the Sandinista Front.

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The regime has justified the firings by citing evaluations of each institution’s work, claiming the goal is to “promote” savings and improve efficiency in public administration. However, the purges are also driven by motives such as lack of loyalty to the ruling couple and punishing “internal corruption.”

“Irregularities include made-up positions, unjustified hires—meaning positions that aren’t necessary—and officials stealing from their ministry’s budget. Less often, the axe also falls on employees who aren’t loyal to the government,” says a source connected to the CGR.

The source explained that before the CGR visits a government institution, a report detailing irregularities must first be submitted. Political secretaries embedded in the offices act as informants or spies, and the report eventually reaches the central leadership.

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State workers have been caught up in purges of employees carried out by the dictatorship. Divergentes | Archive

The order, in most cases, has been to form a team to audit and investigate these irregularities. This unit, as explained by sources, is coordinated by a CGR auditor, an Economic Police officer, and Ministry of the Interior officials. The work can last from three weeks to two months, and the outcome almost always results in public employee purges.

At the institution where Mauricio works, they stayed for nearly two months. Neither the minister in charge nor the human resources office interfered with the unit’s work. And when workers asked for explanations about the dismissals, no one answered.

“They have no voice. The ones who fired all those people were the auditors,” Mauricio adds.

Fear in the hallways

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State workers live their working lives in anxiety due to the dismissals carried out by the Ortega-Murillo dictatorship. Divergentes | Archive

The first day the auditors arrived at Mauricio’s office, there was a lot of anxiety in the air. It was near payday, and some of his colleagues, afraid, thought they wouldn’t receive their wages and would just be fired instead. They had already heard similar stories from other departments and feared the same would happen to them.

“The second day was worse. We were so afraid of being overheard that we didn’t talk about anything in the office. The only time we spoke was when we left, and that was because we made sure no one was around to eavesdrop,” says Mauricio

By the fifth day, they had intervened in other offices of the ministry where Mauricio works. Although there had been no dismissals yet, and everyone had been paid, the tension lingered. Their boss encouraged them to continue as if nothing was happening, but all those weeks, it was difficult to be productive.

The results of the audits

Three months after the intervention, the first results were abruptly noticeable. At least 35 people were fired without being given a reason. Mauricio spoke with some of his now-former colleagues, who confirmed that the purge had occurred without much explanation. They were even told they wouldn’t receive any severance pay.

According to the CGR source, in most cases, they found employees who had been siphoning money from the budget without justification, sometimes with the approval of their immediate boss.

They also uncovered made-up positions where a person only showed up to sign for their paycheck but did not perform any actual work for the state.

“These poor people came to the office, and the human resources staff told them the order came from above, and there was nothing they could do. Single mothers, only children, many were fired without regard for their situation. Even some life long Sandinistas were fired, Mauricio recounts.

No new hires

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State workers are forced to worship Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo. Divergentes | Archive

In a note published on August 7, the Sandinista regime, through Bruno Gallardo, Minister of Finance and Public Credit, informed that vacant positions (resulting from the purge or restructuring) and new hires were frozen in all public bodies and entities. Additionally, it was stated that if a hire was necessary, a formal request had to be sent to the relevant government institution for review.

“The order is that any personnel movement must first be known at the highest levels. It wasn’t like this before; before, any minister could make decisions and hire whoever they wanted. But after the couple learned in detail about the ‘internal corruption,’ they decided to keep a close eye to prevent ‘infiltrators’ and further loss of funds,” says the Ministry of the Interior source interviewed for this report.

The restructuring carried out since the beginning of August has led to the dismissal of employees from the Ministry of Health (Minsa), municipalities, the National Assembly, the Judiciary, the Ministry of Family, Community, Cooperative, and Associative Economy (Mefcca), and even public universities.

“No one in the government is safe”

The CGR source reiterated that the purge shows no mercy to public officials, with even mayors who are daughters of powerful figures being dismissed, with no sign of being reassigned to another public role.

Mauricio is aware that in the public institution where he works, some of the dismissed employees were just “ornaments” and didn’t fulfill any important role. Others had secured their positions through connections and rarely showed up to work. However, he acknowledges that the purge also removed people who worked hard but perhaps didn’t “identify with” the Sandinista party as much as others.

“We’re all scared because you never know when it will be your turn. And they say the next audit is happening next week. No one in the government is safe,” says a nervous Mauricio.


The information we publish in DIVERGENTES comes from contrasted sources. Due to the situation in the region, many times, we are forced to protect them under pseudonymity or anonymity. Unfortunately, some governments in the region, including the Nicaraguan regime, do not provide information or censor independent media. For this reason, despite requesting it, we cannot rely on official, authorized versions. We resort to data analysis, anonymous internal sources, or limited information from the official media. These are the conditions under which we exercise a profession that, in many cases, costs us our safety and our lives. We will continue to report.