17 March – Vice President Rosario Murillo announced that Cuba was going to send doctors and pharmaceuticals to Nicaragua to help deal with COVID-19, 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 Nicaragua 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]
