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MEXICO CITY (AP) 鈥� The Nicaraguan government has dismantled the last remaining checks and balances and was 鈥渟ystematically executing a strategy to cement total control of the country through severe human rights violations,” a panel of United Nations experts warned Wednesday.

The report by human rights experts is the latest and strongest rebuke of the government of President Daniel Ortega and first lady and now co-president Rosario Murillo, which has for years cracked down on dissent and civil society.

The crackdown started with violent government repression of 2018 protests. Since then, the Nicaraguan government 鈥渉as deliberately transformed the country into an authoritarian state,” the experts said. The crackdown has forced tens of thousands of people to flee the country in exile.

鈥淭he state and the ruling Sandinista party have virtually fused into a unified machine of repression with domestic and transnational impact,鈥� said Jan Simon, chair of the U.N. Group of Experts, in a statement. 鈥淥rtega and Murillo operate a wide intelligence machine, surveilling the population and selecting the targets for the violation of rights, acting as 鈥榯he eyes and ears鈥� that allow (the Nicaraguan government) to obtain and maintain total control over people.鈥�

The Nicaraguan government did not respond to a request for comment.

The experts said that the final democratic blow was dealt last month with a constitutional reform passed by the Nicaraguan congress, which is firmly controlled by Ortega and Murillo’s Sandinista party.

The reform, which entered into force on Feb. 18, effectively put all branches of government under the power of the presidency, and also officially made Ortega and Murillo 鈥渃o-presidents,鈥� which would guarantee presidential succession for Murillo and their family.

The reform also expanded the presidential term to six years from five in a move that further consolidated the family鈥檚 firm grip on power.

The report by UN experts said that in addition to government control, Ortega and Murillo have expanded their use of arbitrary detention, forced expulsions, confiscation of private property and stripping their opposition of Nicaraguan citizenship.

The experts said they compiled a list of people they believed were responsible for the repression, which will be shared with the Nicaraguan government and made public through the UN Human Rights Council. They also urged the international community to take legal action and expand targeted sanctions against those individuals, and provide greater protections for Nicaraguan exiles.