One of the highest rates of sexual violence against girls in the world.
Al Jazeera
Managua - Martha Velasquez was an ordinary 12-year-old schoolgirl until February when she was raped by her cousin's boyfriend. The 34-year-old grabbed her as she went to buy plantain chips, dragging her inside the church where he worked as a caretaker.
He raped her and warned her to say nothing.
Velasquez' real name has been changed along with other children quoted to protect their identify. She spoke to Al Jazeera at a refuge on the outskirts of Nicaragua's capital, Managua. "He said if I told anyone he would hurt my little sisters like he'd hurt me. I felt terrible, but I was scared, so I kept quiet."
Nicaragua has one of the highest rates of sexual violence against girls in the world that flourishes amid a patriarchal society, high levels of impunity, and discriminatory laws curtailing women's human rights.
Last year, forensic doctors examined 6,069 sexual violence victims - a 27-percent rise from 2010, according to new Institute of Legal Medicine (IML) figures.
A staggering 82 percent of victims were children: 3,065 aged 0-13 and 1,897 aged 14-17. Nine out of 10 victims were female, and more than 80 percent, like Velasquez, knew their abuser.
The true number of victims is undoubtedly much higher, as an estimated 90 percent of sexual attacks are never reported to the authorities, according to IML.
"Sexual violence against girls is so brutal and so naturalised in the country that it is considered normal, and machismo underlies it all," said Mayte Ochoa from Ipas, a global reproductive rights organisation.
'Barely seen as a problem'
A recent study by the Nicaraguan Foundation for Economic and Social Development (Funides) found 17 percent of 15 to 19-year-old girls surveyed said their first sexual experience was a result of pressure from their partner, or rape. One in five of the girls had suffered sexual violence in the past year.
For Velasquez, the nightmare worsened. In July, her mother who still knew nothing about the ordeal, took her to the doctor as she had painful swollen feet. Velasquez was five-months pregnant, and suffering from pre-eclampsia - a life-threatening condition common among adolescents.
Nicaragua has the highest teenage pregnancy rate in Latin America, with 28 percent of women giving birth before the age of 18, according to the United Nations Population Fund.
In 2012, 33,812 babies were delivered by girls aged 10 to 19 - equivalent to one in every four live births, according to the latest available Ministry of Health figures. This included 1,609 new mothers aged 10 to 14.
Sex with a child under 14 automatically constitutes rape under the Nicaraguan penal code, but there are no official prosecution figures available. Only one percent of sexual attacks results in a successful prosecution, according to Lorna Norori, coordinator of the Movement against Sexual Abuse.
The impact of adolescent pregnancies are manifold.
Many girls are expelled from school for setting a bad example, even though this violates their legal right to education.
"In 99 percent of teenage pregnancies a girl's education, job prospects, and ability to provide for her family are reduced," said Rosa Romero, a sexual and reproductive rights expert from children's NGO Plan International.
"It should worry the state that teenage pregnancies, usually involving much older men, have become so naturalised that it is barely seen as a problem," she added.
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