The dictatorship of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo are trying again to blackmail the member governments of the Central American Integration System (SICA), with the complaint of an alleged “usurpation” of the functions of the General Secretariat of the organization, but in reality, what seeks is to put pressure on them to finally accept one of their candidates for that position, something that is probably not going to happen due to the lack of suitability of the proposals, say analysts consulted by Article 66.
The Managua regime, through the government spokesperson and vice-dictator, Rosario Murillo, denounced this week that the Executive Directorate of SICA is usurping functions that correspond to the General Secretariat for having sent to the member states some proposals for a work agenda and budget for 2025.
The action carried out by the Executive Directorate of the regional organization angers the Nicaraguan dictatorship, which felt ignored in its demand for the appointment of the general secretary, which it has been trying to obtain since November of last year.
Managua dictatorship wants to keep SICA paralyzed
For the opposition leader in exile Hector Mairena, The complaint of alleged usurpation of functions of the General Secretariat denounced by the dictatorship is nothing more than a “tantrum” and “one more blackmail” by the dictators Ortega and Murillo, who feel isolated and ignored in their attempts to get him appointed in the position of general secretary to one of his proposed political operators.
Mairena maintains that Ortega-Murillo’s reaction is because in reality they are the ones who want the regional body to remain paralyzed in order to pressure for the appointment they seek.
The General Secretariat has been headless since November 2023, when the official who held that position at the suggestion of Nicaragua, Warner Vargas, unexpectedly resigned after a year in the position. For some analysts, the director of the organization was forced to resign by the Managua regime in order to put in his place one of his political operators who would not dispute his attempts to manage the secretariat’s agenda from El Carmen, the headquarters of the Executive. of SICA.
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However, the diplomatic maneuver did not go well for the dictators, since their proposals to occupy the position have not been accepted by the member states. Nicaragua has the right to nominate the secretary general for a four-year period, which expires in 2026.
“Rosario Murillo’s reaction to the communication from the SICA Executive Directorate sent to the member states is a tantrum regarding the non-approval of the candidates they have proposed for the General Secretariat,” says Mairena.
There is no such usurpation
Mairena explains that the alleged usurpation of functions that the Nicaraguan dictatorship denounces and that he attributes to the Executive Directorate of the organization does not exist.
“It must be said that the Executive Directorate has a responsibility to carry out the decisions of the SICA Advisory Council and I assume that the communication that that body has directed is within the framework of its powers,” says the analyst.
Affectively, Article 66 consulted the constituent statutes of the SICA and its reforms and in the section dedicated to the Executive Directorate establishes that this body “is the body responsible for carrying out the executive and administrative tasks of the Advisory Committee. It is also the body in charge of managing the strategies, plans, programs and projects of the entity, as well as the communication area.
Likewise, the Agency’s regulations establish that the Executive Directorate “works in coordination with the rest of the institutions’ bodies, maintaining special closeness with the Board of Directors.
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Among its responsibilities are: Serve as Secretary of the CC-SICA Board of Directors. “Execute the initiatives that arise from the Plenary Assembly and the Board of Directors of the CC-SICA and Execute the management of the CC-SICA programs and projects.”
In addition, they are in charge of «Promoting and managing projects for the CC-SICA. Maintain and promote communication with the organic bodies of the CCSICA and its networks, with the institutions and authorities of the SICA, with governments and national, multilateral or third country institutions or organizations.
In that sense, the opponent in exile maintains that the Ortega-Murillo regime’s claim is unfounded, since the Executive Directorate is authorized to send the communications that Murillo denounces as usurpation of functions.
He adds that, in all this reaction of the dictatorship, the important thing is to denounce “the kind of blackmail that the regime is doing to the member states of SICA, because it wants there to be paralysis until one of its candidates is appointed.” .
Dictatorship is wrong to believe that the General Secretariat belongs to it
A former Nicaraguan diplomat who is intimately familiar with the functioning of SICA confirms that the General Secretariat of that organization is empowered to put the organization into operation in the absence of a general secretary, as is currently the case and as has already happened on two previous occasions.
For the former diplomat, who prefers not to be mentioned by name, the Ortega-Murillo regime is wrong when it tries to pressure to impose a political operator in office, pretending that the SICA body functions under its mandate and subordinate to the dictators.
«It must be taken into account that the position of secretary general, although it is up to Nicaragua to propose the official who will occupy it, once appointed does not respond to Nicaragua but to the Integration System, that is, to the Consultative Council and all member states. It is not subordinated to the State to which it belongs,” explains the former foreign official.
Likewise, he agrees that it is the Ortega-Murillo dictatorship that is interested in keeping SICA paralyzed as a way of blackmail to force member states to accept its proposals.
“If the regime wants SICA to function as it should, it has to start by proposing suitable candidates for the General Secretariat, who meet the requirements established by the organization,” stated the analyst.
Ortega has proposed two shortlists to fill the vacant position, however none of his candidates have been accepted because all of them are directly related to repression and some to crimes against humanity.
