The Permanent Council of the Organization of American States (OAS) discussed —for the first time— the confiscation of the office that they rented in Nicaragua by the Government of Daniel Ortega, a fact that was rejected and condemned by the majority of the delegations. In addition, they urged the member states to take urgent action in the face of this fact, which sets a negative precedent in international relations.
However, for now they have not held any votes or made a decision on the situation of their office in Nicaragua, which was officially declared of “public utility” this Wednesday, April 27.
The Secretary General of the OAS, Luis Almagro, stated that the Government of Nicaragua decided “to expropriate the building where the OAS offices occupied part of it, illegally entered an office protected by immunities and illegitimately expropriated a property as a purported sanction to the OAS when that building is not even our property. The OAS only leases part of it.”
According to the Secretary General of the OAS “nothing can justify a disregard of the immunities and privileges enjoyed by the facilities, assets, and archives of an international organization,” and what happened in Managua “opens a precedent” that if tolerated It can lead tomorrow “to the greatest outrages against any international organization or against any diplomatic headquarters.”
For the permanent representative of Antigua and Barbuda, Ambassador Ronald Michael Sanders, the confiscation of the OAS headquarters in Managua “is an assault, an attack, on each of our member states” and none of them can ignore this violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. “We must send a clear message to Nicaragua and to any other government that we will not tolerate any action that weakens or destroys this tool of international relations,” he said.
The regime is not open to discussion
The permanent representative of Canada, Ambassador Hugh Adsett, also pointed out that the Daniel Ortega regime continues to show “that it is not open to any discussion” and that its actions will affect relations with all OAS member states in the near future. .
The interim representative of the United States, Ambassador Bradley A. Freden, condemned what happened in Managua and recalled that in the last three years the Ortega regime has failed to comply with the agreements it had with the OAS on the release of political prisoners.
“It is essential that we treat this act as the legal and institutional abomination that it really is and see that it reflects the regime’s rejection of the commitments made to this organization. The Ortega regime ignores the recommendations of this Council, defies its international commitments and the most important thing is that it denies human rights to the Nicaraguan people,” denounced the US ambassador.
For the permanent representative of Uruguay, Ambassador Washington Abdala, “what is being experienced in Nicaragua is barbarism” and the confiscation of the OAS office in Managua “is one more indicator of that barbarism.” This “infamy” makes it clear that “this type of violence hides a phenomenal weakness of the regime,” Abdala warned. “The regime is out of its mind and resorts to these demonstrations” to prevent the international community from telling it that what it is doing is wrong.
Also the delegations of Bolivia, Mexico and Argentina, which historically have not had a firm position against the Ortega regime, rejected what happened in Managua.
Offices were taken by force
On the afternoon of April 24, 2022, the Nicaraguan Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed the OAS General Secretariat and Nicaraguan society that the Ortega government decided to “cancel and close” the agency’s offices in Managua, “and so he did it by force,” Almagro said in a letter sent Tuesday to the Permanent Council.
“Immediately after” Foreign Minister Denis Moncada declared that the OAS office was closed, “police forces occupied the headquarters of said office, seizing your files, as well as all the existing material. Officials of the General Secretariat in Nicaragua can run serious risks,” Almagro continued.
The occupation of the OAS headquarters in Managua is an unprecedented event in the history of the regional organization and constitutes “a flagrant violation of international law” that exposes the country to “profound repercussions” in its relationship with all the member states of the organization regional.
A former ambassador to that body He explained, on condition of anonymity, that the raid on the diplomatic headquarters violates the OAS Charter, the Vienna Convention and all the specific agreements established between the Government of Nicaragua and the OAS where the status of an international mission is recognized.
“For practical purposes, this act of raiding the headquarters is fully equivalent to violating the integrity of a diplomatic headquarters of any country. It puts the Government of Nicaragua out of the international right and it will surely have profound repercussions on relations with the OAS and all the member states that could proceed based on the principle of reciprocity,” said the former ambassador.
Regime made official the confiscation
This Wednesday was also published in La Gaceta, official newspaper, the administrative agreement 10-2022 of the Office of the Attorney General, by which the building where the OAS office in Managua, which belonged to the sisters Luz Marina Navarrete Guevara and María Auxiliadora Navarrete Guevara, the latter is known in the registry as María Auxiliadora Navarrete de Domson.
“The real estate object of this declaration of public utility and where the headquarters of the Organization of American States (OAS) operated in our country, according to the Expropriation Law, will pass to the State of the Republic of Nicaragua, who through the executing unit : Nicaraguan Institute of Culture, will develop and implement the Museum of Infamy project, ”says the text of the Attorney General’s Office.
A day earlier, the vice president and spokeswoman for the regime, Rosario Murillo, announced the confiscation of the headquarters that the OAS rented in Nicaragua and described what happened as “good news.”
“The real estate that was occupied by the office of the deplorable OAS, of the despicable OAS, has been declared of public utility and will go to the State of Nicaragua, which, through the executing unit, in this case the Institute of Culture, will to develop the museum of infamy, which is more infamous than that ministry of colonies,” Murillo said during his monologue on Tuesday.
The OAS office was located on the first level of a two-story building that he rented in Las Sierritas de Santo Domingo, south of Managua, while the second floor was occupied by the property’s owners. Although it was not his own building, Murillo added that the nationalization of the OAS headquarters will come into force as of its publication in La Gaceta, the official newspaper.
“This is all good news, expel and confirm the expulsion. The ratification of the OAS as infamous, as an infamous and despicable ministry of colonies”, Murillo pointed out.
