In the framework of the assembly of foreign ministers of the Organization of American States (OAS), representatives of civil society and international human rights organizations warned that, after the reelection of Daniel Ortega, follows a worsening of the repression in Nicaragua. For this reason, they called on the international community to “do everything possible” to stop the impunity of the repressive structures in the country.
During a discussion called “Nicaragua: between impunity and the escalation of repression, The president of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) and rapporteur for Nicaragua, Antonia Urrejola, pointed out that “clearly” there is a deepening of the isolation of the Nicaraguan government, so it is to be expected that it will respond with more repression within the country.
“We are watching with concern the human rights situation (in Nicaragua) that is moving into a new phase with greater repression, a greater exodus of Nicaraguans who are leaving basically for their personal integrity,” said Urrejola. But “as the Inter-American Commission we have to continue making the bet of keep pressing, first so that there are new elections with minimal guarantees … and above all, that the processes of memory, truth and justice be achieved, “he added.
Pdta. @ totonia68 made a call to the international community, and the States of the region to solidarity and cooperation to support the Nicaraguan exodus, and requested to make a call to apply the democratic charter of the @OEA_oficial for the reconstruction of the rule of law pic.twitter.com/9t0ka0zFr4
– IACHR – IACHR (@CIDH) November 10, 2021
For her part, the lawyer Astrid Valencia, from Amnesty International, pointed out that the international community “must assume joint responsibility” for protecting the human rights of Nicaraguans, and multilateral forums such as the OAS “must do everything possible so that the structures of repression and impunity stop being untouchable ”.
Exile “a form of punishment”
Meanwhile, Wendy Flores, from the human rights collective Nicaragua Never +, He recalled that Ortega in his last speech called political prisoners “sons of bitches of imperialism” and that “they should be taken there, to the United States, because those are not Nicaraguans, they stopped being Nicaraguans a long time ago.” Situation that leaves in evidence vulnerability in which are the people who are considered opponents.
“Government policy has been to treat Nicaraguans who criticize or denounce the regime as political opponents,” enemies of the revolution, “qualify them as” sell homeland “, annul their rights as a person, dehumanize any treatment towards them, and promote at all levels of society intolerance towards those who are not with the Government, deepening the rupture of the social fabric in the country and promoting a culture of hatred among its followers who harass, threaten, persecute an entire people who demand a change ” Flores stressed.
The director of CONFIDENCIAL, the journalist Carlos Fernando Chamorro, also pointed out that the perspectives after the voting are: greater uncertainty, worsening of the political, economic and social crisis; and more migration of Nicaraguans.
“After the election, what Ortega already said when proclaiming his victory is that the political prisoners, in the best of cases, their intention is to expatriate them. What he is saying is that they are stripped of their rights … but the ultimate purpose is to expropriate their political rights, ”Chamorro warned.
Chamorro also explained that there is a “oversized expectation “of what the international community can do, since” if international pressure is not connected with the suspension of the police state and the weakening of the police state, the dictatorship will prolong its control of power for longer, “he stressed.
For her part, the president of the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (CENIDH), Vilma Núñez, denounced that in the context of the voting in Nicaragua she has known 32 arbitrary arrests, raids, harassment, permanent intimidation and emphasized in the “irrational, aggressive and threatening behavior of Daniel Ortega himself in his last speeches, charged with hatred against everything and everyone ”.
