The Superior Council of Private Enterprise (COSEP) spoke out this Thursday, January 27, in favor of a national dialogue, after remaining silent since September 2021, and after the re-election of Daniel Ortega without political competition, after imprisoning all the leadership of the democratic opposition.
The business leadership headed by César Zamora endorsed a petition from relatives of political prisoners who demand the freedom of all prisoners of conscience and the annulment of political trials, but added the request for a dialogue “without preconditions.” The COSEP supports the “search for viable solutions, prompt and without preconditions that prioritize solving the crossroads that the nation is going through,” says the statement released this Thursday, January 27, while the regime keeps two former presidents and a former vice president of the employers in prison. , José Adán Aguerri, Michael Healy and Álvaro Vargas, respectively.
“We ask for all political prisoners. It is clearly an asymmetric negotiation. What really pisses us off are the political prisoners and their conditions. We are clear about what we prioritize,” said an anonymous COSEP director, who maintained that as an organization they want to be “allowed to work in peace.”
The union statement comes a day after the COSEP board of directors discussed the possibility of negotiating with the regime at its worst moment of legitimacy, which has not been recognized by more than 40 countries after the votes last Novemberfor the lack of democratic guarantees in the elections and for the repression, while Daniel Ortega promised a “clean slate”, after the 2018 massacre without referring to political prisoners and the police state that has violated the rights of citizens.
Private sector sources revealed to CONFIDENTIAL that the president of COSEP, César Zamora, told the chamber presidents in Wednesday’s session that “we have to talk about a negotiation, dialogue, I find everything because of three friends who are desperate and we owe it to them.” However, the statement made no reference to the energy sector executive’s words.
Nor did COSEP comment on the memory aid, which collected the main ideas of the session in a document, which circulated among different political sectors in the hours before the official position of the business community was known.
After the massacre of 2018, perpetrated by the State in which 328 people were assassinated according to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), the employers and Ortega distanced themselves, the large capitals of the country requested an advance of the elections to which the ruler refused. The caudillo virulently attacked them in his speeches, just as he did with other sectors that denounced the repression such as the Catholic Church, and in 2021 he imprisoned five business leaders: the former Cosep president, José Adán Aguerri; the banker Luis Rivas; the general manager of La Prensa, Juan Lorenzo Holmann; the president of Cosep, Michael Healy and the president of Upanic, Álvaro Vargas.
This week, the judicial system under the control of Ortega has reactivated the trials against six political prisoners in processes that accumulate so many annulments that they should cause the immediate issuance of release orders to themaccording to the jurist, María Asunción Moreno.
They endorse lawsuit from relatives of political prisoners
To justify its support for the dialogue with Ortega, which the FSLN leader has not requested, the COSEP accepted the pronouncement that they made known the relatives of 27 political prisonersin which the signatories appealed both to the rulers, to the active forces of the nation and to the Catholic Church “to build bridges that help overcome mistrust.”
The relatives, who have been joined by several dozen more, recalled that there are 170 prisoners of conscience and that the feeling of the population in general is that an injustice has been committed, so the judicial proceedings must be annulled and they must be released immediately.
“The freedom of our prisoners is not a matter of partisan preferences, nor is it a maneuver in a struggle for power. His release, rather, can be seen as the initial step in a process that leads to a greater degree of serenity for Nicaraguan homes, inside and outside our borders; and that gradually helps to reduce cracks in our society”, they indicated.
That statement was supported by the Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), Luis Almagro, in a comment on his Twitter account.
Our support for the pronouncement of the Relatives of Political Prisoners in #Nicaragua https://t.co/6P49g6DQYg
— Luis Almagro (@Almagro_OEA2015) January 26, 2022
In recent months, relatives of political prisoners have denounced the torture to which their relatives have been subjected and have documented the lack of guarantees for a fair trial in legal proceedings.
For her part, Ana Lucía Álvarez, human rights defender and relative of Tamara Dávila, Ana Margarita Vijil, and Dora María Téllez, demanded the immediate and unconditional release of her relatives and the annulment of the political trials, although she did not sign the document of the January 25..
“We believe in justice without impunity and that there must be a democratic change,” insisted Álvarez, who explained that if there is a dialogue process, it must be broad with representatives, including those of the victims of repression.
Álvarez appealed for the “non-repetition” of human rights abuses, which has been evidenced by the arrest of 41 released prisoners who are part of the 170 political prisoners currently in existence.
Ignoring the demands of the international and national community for the prisoners’ release, on January 19, Vice President Rosario Murillo announced in her midday speech a series of cabinet meetings with different sectors to talk about the country’s economic model.
In that statement, Murillo ignored the request to put an end to the police state that has violated the rights of Nicaraguans, since it was imposed in September 2018 after the protests repressed with violence by the State that year.
COSEP director denies approaches
The director of COSEP consulted by CONFIDENCEL assured that at this time there is no rapprochement on the part of the employers with the government authorities.
The businessman explained that, when referring in the statement to the position that there are no preconditions in the talks with the State, they are referring to what was said by Enrique Quiñónez, close to the dictatorship, who maintained that in order to sit down, the other party should pronounce against the sanctions of the international community, imposed on government representatives for human rights violations.
“The precondition is two-way for the conversation to be frank,” he said. The businessman acknowledged that “the Government has not sought us out, that is the reality.”
For him, the agreement that must be sought is one that can be met, but he stressed that democracy is “essential for the private sector” and “that the result is not having to sit down again,” he said.
Healy and Vargas released from money laundering charges
The COSEP director reported that on Friday, January 21, Enrique Genie, lawyer for political prisoners Michael Healy and Álvaro Vargas, was surprised at the trial hearing when he verified that the charge against his clients for money laundering was no longer there.
Both were captured in October 2021 and accused, in addition to that alleged crime, of violating the “Sovereignty Law” or Law 1055 by allegedly inciting foreign intervention in internal affairs. José Aguerri was accused of this last crime on June 9 last.
The arrests of members of the private sector occurred in the midst of the repressive escalation through which Ortega eliminated political competition in last November’s voting by arresting seven opposition candidates.
In the electronic system of the Judiciary, known as Nicarao, there are no traces of the accusations against the businessmen, as confirmed CONFIDENTIAL through lawyers. Less than the recent resolutions taken in the instances for each of these specific cases, which is not surprising because other lawyers of political prisoners have denounced the lack of access to the files and the refusal of the judges to allow them to meet with their clients.
The lawyer Enrique Genie did not want to comment by telephone when he was consulted by CONFIDENTIAL and he limited himself to saying that there was nothing new. The memory aid on the COSEP meeting states that COSEP spoke with the opposition party Ciudadanos por la Libertad, excluded from the voting last November by the regime, to promote a dialogue so that those deprived of liberty can be released.
Regarding journalistic information stating that CxL held talks with COSEP, I can assure you that neither myself nor the National Executive Committee of Citizens for Freedom have held any meeting with them.
– Kitty Monterrey ?? (@KittyMonterrey) January 27, 2022
However, Kitty Monterrey, the president of this organization, stated that she has not had any conversations with COSEP. “I can assure you that neither myself nor the National Executive Committee of Citizens for Freedom have held any meeting with them,” he denied from exile on his Twitter account.
