17 March – Vice President Rosario Murillo announced that Cuba was going to send doctors and pharmaceuticals to Nicaragua to help deal with coronavirus, despite there being no confirmed cases in the country at the time. Murillo also claimed that medical supplies were sent by Venezuela as well.[1]
18 March – The first confirmed case of COVID-19 in the country is announced: a 40-year-old man who recently returned to Nicaragua from its neighboring country of Panama.[2]
23 August – Bishop Silvio Báez, who has been outside of Nicaragua for reasons of security since April 23, 2019, accuses President Ortega of being a dictator. The Centro Nicaragüense de Derechos Humanos (Nicaraguan Human Rights Center, Cenidh) says that the Catholic Church has been the victim of 24 attacks since April 2018.[3]
9 September – The Pittsburgh Pirates take #21 out of retirement for a game against the Chicago White Sox at PNC Park. 9 September is celebrated by Major League Baseball (MLB) as "Roberto Clemente Day". Clemente, a Puerto Rico native, died in a plane crash in December 1972 while en route to Nicaragua to deliver disaster relief to victims of an earthquake.[4]
15 September – Independence Day (from Spain, 1821), national holiday[5] President Ortega proposes life sentences for political dissidents who commit "hate crimes."[8]
16 November – Hurricane Iota: Category 5 hurricane made landfall in Honduras and Nicaragua.[9]
10 December – The Centro Nicaragüense de Derechos Humanos (Cenidh) accuses President Ortega of "passing the limits" on human rights violations, citing 325 deaths during protests since 2018.[10]
16 December – The United States says it will continue to exert pressure on Nicargua to ensure that the 2021 Nicaraguan general election is free and fair.[11]
21 December – The Congress passes a law banning terrorists, coup-mongers, and “traitors to the homeland” from running in the 2021 elections.[12]
