After more than twenty years serving as Nicaragua’s international legal adviser before the International Court of Justice in The Hague, first in the 1980s and then in 2007, attorney Paul Reichler resigned from continuing to work with the Daniel Ortega regime, through a letter sent on March 2, which is now made public through CONFIDENTIAL.
Reichler was part of the Nicaraguan legal team that denounced the United States before the ICJ for its financing of the counterrevolutionary war in the 1980s, which culminated in the historic ruling in favor of Nicaragua in June 1986. Furthermore, after 2007 , was part of the team in the border conflicts of the country for the sovereignty of the San Juan River against Costa Rica and the maritime limit of meridian 82 in the Caribbean Sea with Colombia.
In the letter, Reichler assures Ortega that his service to Nicaragua “has been the most rewarding and enriching” of his life. However, he argues that he terminates his relationship with Ortega and his government because it is inconceivable to him how the old revolutionary established a new dictatorship in Nicaragua and points to the repression and massacre against the citizen protests of 2018 and the hunt to fill the prisons. of political prisoners.
“I don’t know what made you change, but you are no longer the Daniel Ortega whom I respected, admired, loved and served with pride for so many years,” he says.
CONFIDENTIAL publishes below the full letter sent by Reichler, who this Sunday, March 27, also gives an interview on the program This week to our director Carlos F. Chamorro.
Dear Commander:
I am writing to you for two reasons. The first is to convey to you my deepest gratitude for the immense honor you have granted me for more than 40 years: the opportunity to serve Nicaragua as its international legal advisor. This has been one of the greatest blessings I have received. You have made my life special, filling it with meaning, especially and above all by allowing me to join you in the fight for justice for the country and the heroic people that I have come to love so much.
I have so many memories to enrich several lives. I owe it to you, beginning with that day, in January 1984, in the house of Father Miguel (D’Escoto), when you told me that Nicaragua had decided to sue the United States in the International Court of Justice to hold the that country under international law for the war, aggression and terrorism that it had launched against the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Nicaragua; and, in the same meeting, you told me that you wanted me to be part of the Nicaraguan legal team that would take the case in The Hague.
Nicaragua could have chosen other weapons to defend itself against the United States. Instead, under his leadership, she chose the law. He did not fight aggression with aggression, nor terror with terror; he followed the path of peace on the basis of principles by seeking a judicial solution through the International Court, with the confidence that his cause was just. It was an example to the world, for which Nicaragua gained wide international recognition even before the Court issued its historic ruling in favor of Nicaragua in June 1986. That ruling, combined with other events, ultimately led to the Congress of the the United States to end military aid to the forces of the counterrevolution and created the conditions for an agreement to end the war.
That agreement was signed in Sapoá, in March 1988. It was preceded by his commitment with the other Central American presidents in Esquipulas, Guatemala, to enter into direct negotiations with the contras. This was another courageous decision of his, reflecting a firm commitment to an honorable peace. In December 1987, you appointed me a member of the government’s negotiating team, but you also sent me on clandestine missions to meet with Contra leaders outside of the formal negotiations, in order to determine if there was a real interest in an agreement and in what terms.
I vividly remember the night before the signing of the Sapoá Agreement. You were meeting with the Nicaraguan negotiating team, led by Humberto (Ortega), in a safe house in San Juan del Sur. A favorable agreement with the contras was within reach, but the government had to make certain concessions, or the talks would fail. The decision would be momentous. Peace would be reached or war would continue, depending on his choice. You chose peace, and the next day the historic agreement was signed.
The Sapoá Agreement promised democratic elections and they were held in February 1990. The political opposition was skeptical at first and threatened not to participate. You made the key decisions that persuaded them to do so, agreeing to many of the conditions they insisted on to ensure an open and honest electoral process. One of those conditions was inviting international observers, including former US President Jimmy Carter, whom you asked me to contact and convince to accept this critical role. During the elections, at his request, I served as a liaison between the Administration and President Carter and his team, working closely with them.
One of the most unforgettable nights of my life was February 25, 1990, after the polls had closed and the ballots had been counted. Like millions of other supporters of the Revolution, in Nicaragua and around the world, I was shocked and devastated by the unexpected results. I accompanied President Carter, his wife and his assistant to the midnight meeting that has become a part of history. President Carter told you what you already knew: that the FSLN lost and that Doña Violeta (Barrios de Chamorro) had been elected president. Some bogus “historians” have written that President Carter talked him into accepting the results and handing over power. As an eyewitness, I know that’s not true. You told President Carter that the government and party leadership had already made that decision. You authorized President Carter to notify Doña Violeta immediately, with the request that she say nothing publicly until you make a formal announcement in the morning, because that way it would be easier to avoid a conflict in the streets. I left with President Carter, who only expressed the utmost respect and admiration for you.
When Doña Violeta and her Government assumed the Presidency in April 1990, I learned that it was the first time in the history of Nicaragua that an incumbent Government left power by force of vote. A critical chapter in that history had been closed. It began in 1979, when the FSLN led the Nicaraguan people to overthrow a brutal, ruthless and corrupt dictatorship that ruled the country for 45 years, promising to install a democratic government; and it ended in 1990, when the FSLN left the Nicaraguan government with the full democracy it had promised. Nothing that happened during those 11 years, or after, could erase those achievements. It was my great honor, privilege and blessing to have served that Government.
My service resumed after the 2006 elections, when you became president again. By then, Nicaragua had capitalized on its reputation as a strong promoter and defender of international law, which it had earned as a result of its legal victory over the United States, by returning to the International Court of Justice to resolve disputes with Costa Rica, Colombia, and Honduras. . By his instruction, I was incorporated into the Nicaraguan legal team against Costa Rica and Colombia. Under the leadership of Carlos Argüello, both cases (as well as that of Honduras) resulted in historic victories for Nicaragua.
In 2009, the International Court ruled that only Nicaragua is sovereign over the San Juan River and that its sovereign rights allow it to prohibit Costa Rica from conducting police or government functions on the river and to dictate regulations on the use of the river by Costa Rican commercial vessels. In 2012, the Court unanimously rejected Colombia’s claim that the maritime boundary in the Caribbean Sea followed the 82nd meridian, and awarded Nicaragua more than 75% of the disputed sea and seabed, which extend 200 miles from its Atlantic Coast. I felt honored and proud to have helped Nicaragua defend and extend its sovereignty in both cases. I would not have had these opportunities without your trust in me.
I cannot thank you enough for this and for all the opportunities you provided me between 1979 and 2012, and beyond, to serve Nicaragua and its people in a meaningful way, and in doing so, give meaning to my life and professional career. In addition to the time with my family – my wife and my daughter – the time I spent working for and for Nicaragua has been the most rewarding and enriching of my life. I will never forget that I owe this to you and, as I conclude this part of my letter, I thank you enormously and irrevocably from the depths of my soul for making all this possible.
The second reason I am writing to you is to terminate my relationship with you and your Government. I don’t know what made you change, but you are no longer the Daniel Ortega whom I respected, admired, loved and served with pride for so many years.
That Daniel Ortega was a true hero, who bravely, nobly and selflessly served his country and his people, governing wisely and generously in their best interest and, in the process, changing Nicaragua for the better. It is inconceivable to me that this Daniel Ortega would have repressed peaceful demonstrations so ruthlessly, resulting in hundreds of tragic deaths, in April 2018. It is even more inconceivable to me that this Daniel Ortega would have arrested, confined in intolerable conditions and prosecuted more than 50 prominent citizens —from politics, the media, universities and business— with trumped up charges that are nothing more than a pretext to eliminate dissent and opposition.
It is inconceivable to me that the Daniel Ortega, whom I proudly served, would have destroyed the democracy in whose construction he participated decisively and would have established a new dictatorship, not unlike the one he himself helped to overthrow, with sham elections, a submissive legislature , a judicial system that is corrupt and incapable of imparting justice, and the silencing of freedom of expression and the independent media.
It is also inconceivable to me that the Daniel Ortega I served could have forced his most illustrious citizens into exile, including Sergio Ramírez, Luis Carrión, Carlos Fernando Chamorro, Edmundo Jarquín, Gioconda Belli, Mónica Baltodano, Julio López Campos and many other Sandinista heroes. and non-Sandinistas, as well as thousands of Nicaraguans of all political persuasions, whose freedom has been denied or threatened. It is unthinkable to me that this Daniel Ortega would have murdered Hugo Torres and sadistically led the other great patriots, now locked up in his cells, to the brink of hunger and death.
I will continue to respect, admire and love the first Daniel Ortega, even though I feel hopeless and in pain because of the one who has taken his place. I will always treasure my service to the former, even when, for the reasons stated above, my moral conscience demands that I sever my ties with the latter and refuse to serve him.
In the meantime, I will pray for the day that Nicaragua is free again.
