Citizens in exile summon organizations inside and outside the country to participate in the Congress of Unity of Free Nicaraguans this coming Sunday, where the National Council for Transition will be constituted, to channel actions aimed at finding a way out of the socio-political crisis that it crosses the country.
Francisco Larios, member of the Congressional Liaison Commission, explains that this call has the purpose of laying the foundations of an organization with a single objective: the overthrow of the Ortega-Murillo dictatorship and the beginning of a transition towards democracy. “It is essentially an organization that wants to actively fight against the dictatorship and that therefore includes a single goal: overthrow and rejection of dialogue and elections,” he said.
He clarifies that they are not against an electoral solution, but they are aware that it is not possible because neither Daniel Ortega nor his wife and vice president, Rosario Murillo, will allow it. “That is not going to happen,” he said. The initiative’s commitment is to create an organizational structure, with members inside and outside of Nicaragua to coordinate different actions that facilitate the weakening of the regime.
“The Congress of Unity of Nicaraguan Leaders is that, and nothing else, it is to come together to design, coordinate and execute actions of all kinds against the dictatorship to undermine its foundations until it collapses, until it falls,” said Larios in interview on the program Esta Noche. However, these purposes collide with the de facto police state established throughout the national territory, arbitrary imprisonment and organized surveillance in neighborhoods and communities through the structures of the Sandinista Front. How to do it?
“Dictatorships fall. At some point they seem to have absolute power, but ultimately, when the dictatorship loses legitimacy, as is the case with Ortega and Murillo, they begin to eat away at themselves, they begin to have weaknesses that they try to cover up with daily repression. There is a police state, but it reflects an enormous political weakness and it was already demonstrated on November 7 that the Nicaraguan people are capable of paralyzing the country, ”said Larios.
He considers it necessary to create internal structures, which work from underground. Meanwhile, abroad, the restrictions on financing that oxygenate the regime continue to be promoted.
For his part, Danilo Martínez, also a member of the Commission, explained that they are aware that the solution to the country’s crisis lies within Nicaragua.
“It is the Nicaraguan people who are the architect of their own freedom. Therefore, we are directing our best efforts to organize the population because all that energy, creativity and ingenuity, that determination that the people of Nicaragua showed from April 2018 to November 7, if it were led by a single organization , with a single strategy with a single communication, we would also have a great capacity for maneuver, and we would very easily put an end to that disgraceful dictatorship ”, he expressed.
National Council for Transition
In the Congress that will take place this Sunday, in a virtual way, the seven members of the National Council for Transition will be elected, which is not equivalent to a transitional or provisional government, but rather, will serve as a collective leadership of struggle for the freedom of Nicaragua.
Martínez maintains that after the wave of arrests unleashed by the Ortega regime against opposition leaders, “there is a leadership vacuum and that leadership must be filled.” Indeed, after the imprisonment of seven presidential candidates, the exile of members of opposition organizations and the persecution in the territory against any form of articulation against the Government, uniting all the dissident voices that appeared in April 2018 continues to be a pending task, they point out.
The Council will focus on “a plan to fight the dictatorship and a democratic vision of the future of the nation,” indicates the founding Act of Congress.
How will the Council be elected?
A commission elected on November 15, 2021, during a meeting of self-convened Nicaraguans, in which 38 organizations participated, including the Democratic Unity Movement, the Grito de Abril Resistance, representatives of the Peasant Movement, the Blue and White Movement of Nicaragua, representatives of the platform Together for Nicaragua, and others, coordinate this Congress.
Each participating organization will have two representatives, who will be able to vote and at the same time, propose candidates -through a registration and if they wish- for the National Council for Transition. The seven selected will be the most voted.
Until this Tuesday, according to Martínez, about 70 organizations have confirmed their participation and the registration deadline expires on Friday, January 7 at midnight.
Freedom for political prisoners
Although the founding Act of Congress does not specify the demand for freedom of political prisoners, Martínez points out that the Council is also committed to achieving this objective, and that there are no new prisoners for political reasons. That will only be achieved by putting an end to the dictatorship, he assured.
Currently more than 160 political prisoners are in different prisons in the country. The nearly 40, imprisoned in the new Chipote, remain isolated, under psychological torture, without specialized medical care and enduring constant interrogation. Their family members and the international community have demanded their freedom, but have not received any answers from the Ortega regime, which in its speech on November 8, called them “sons of bitches.”
