The Congress of the Christian Democratic Organization of America (ODCA) issued a resolution denouncing the “worsening of the situation in Nicaragua, with constant and growing violations of human rights” by the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo.
During the 23rd congress of the organization, the members rejected that the general elections of November 2021 resulted in a new re-election of Ortega, which have been classified by the Nicaraguan opposition and the international community “as fraudulent and illegitimate, since they did not fulfill the international standard of free elections’; in addition to the fact that in this context the regime unleashed a hunt against opponents.
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They also denounced that the more than 170 opponents are still in prison and already sentenced to several years in prison, 120 political prisoners related to the 2018 protests, and 60 leaders from all sectors who were victims of a hunt during the 2021 electoral campaign, including 7 presidential candidates, “all permanently subjected to cruel and inhuman treatment.”
The organization continued to express its rejection of the repression carried out by Ortega, and assured that, “despite multiple calls from the international community for the Nicaraguan government to cease the repression, restore civil liberties, and take steps to democratize of Nicaragua, there is no response or opening that allows the people of Nicaragua to move towards peace, democracy and development».
They also asked the dictatorship to “cease the police sieges to the houses of opponents, and definitively and unconditionally release all political prisoners. Immediately restore all restricted or eliminated public freedoms, both of the press and of mobilization and organization, including the right of civil society to organize NGOs, of which more than 150 have been annulled by the regime in the last three months» .
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In turn, they demanded that the regime “make profound electoral reforms that allow the holding of free and transparent elections as soon as possible, with national and international electoral observation, that allow the people of Nicaragua to exercise their right to vote, and elect the government of your preference.”
The Congress ended the statement by reiterating its willingness to continue “supporting” international initiatives in the search for a political and peaceful solution to the “serious crisis that affects the people of Nicaragua,” and that worries the international community.
