Countries that have been “lukewarm” when it comes to condemning human rights violations in Nicaragua continue to be “elusive” in forcefully addressing the abuses of the Ortega dictatorship, and for this reason they did not send high-level delegations to the General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS), told Article 66 a former diplomat who closely follows the development of the continental conclave.
The former diplomat who spoke with Article 66 on condition of not mentioning his name, he explained that in a new regional context, the countries with the greatest economic weight are the ones that can decide the balance to obtain a forceful condemnation against the Ortega-Murillo dictatorship.
It is even those countries with strong economies that can promote a declaration of illegitimacy, and approve the resolution proposed by Canada, the United States, Chile, Costa Rica and Antigua and Barbuda, in which they clearly condemn human rights violations, the suppression of the state of rights, as well as the confiscations and stripping of the nationality of opponents.
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However, the most economically strong State in the Region, Brazil, led by the leftist Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, presented an alternative resolution with which it seeks to tone down the condemnation and even “whitewash the image” of the dictator of Nicaragua, and none of the other “strong” ones in Latin America wants to enter into a discussion, according to the former diplomat’s analysis.
That is why the governments of countries like Mexico and Argentina seek to go off on a tangent and not enter into discussions and sent their respective mid-range delegations to the continental diplomatic meeting, “without political weight or decision-making power.”
While most of the OAS Member States are represented in the General Assembly by their Foreign Ministers, according to the official list of heads of delegations, published on the OAS website, Mexico preferred not to send anyone and stopped participating in the most important continental conclave to its permanent representative, the ambassador Luz Elena Baños Rivas.
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Meanwhile, Brazil, which intends to impose the “image laundering” resolution, delegated the General Secretary of Foreign Relations, María Laura da Rocha. Argentina sent the Secretary of Foreign Relations, with the rank of Vice Minister Pablo Tettamanti; and Colombia sent the Vice Minister of Multilateral Affairs, Elizabeth Inés Taylor Jay.
The low rank of the delegations designated to participate in the OAS General Assembly coincides with the position of those states of not assuming a direct critical position against the Ortega-Murillo dictatorship. It is clear that they do not want to discuss the issue of Nicaragua at a high level, according to the former diplomat.
However, the US ambassador to the OAS, Francisco Mora, told 100% Noticias on Wednesday that they hope to maintain the forcefulness of the resolution against the Nicaraguan dictatorship.
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“I think there is a consensus. Brazil is with some questions, but I think there will be a consensus, there will be no vote, there will be total pressure from the general assembly, from the foreign ministers speaking out, condemning the situation in Nicaragua,” said the US diplomat in an interview with that media.
The OAS General Assembly is held June 21-23 in Washington. It is expected that next Friday, the closing day, the resolution on the situation in Nicaragua will be approved. It remains to be seen which will be approved, whether the proposal by the five countries or that of Brazil.
