The activist and member of the organization Nicaragua Nueva Generación Rommel López denounced the situation of the political prisoners of the Daniel Ortega regime before the IX Summit of the Americas that takes place in the United States.
“I took my opportunity to remember that we cannot forget the political prisoners,” López said in an interview with Article 66. “Carrying the voice of the people who cannot speak, I said everything that is happening inside the prisons, what the political prisoners are experiencing,” added the human rights defender who in turn requested that the Democratic Charter be applied, because he considers that under the situation in which the imprisoned opponents live “we cannot wait any longer in paperwork, in summits and in communiqués.”
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López stressed that most of the participating countries agree that “the Democratic Charter be applied as soon as possible and that they take the message to the other countries that we need this to undermine the regime in some way. We know that the United States and the OAS (Organization of American States) do not have the answer to get out of this dictatorship, but they can help us under the framework of the Democratic Charter.
In Nicaragua, the crisis has lasted for more than four years and, currently, more than 170 people are imprisoned for political reasons, their relatives have denounced that the hostages are “without access to specialized medical attention in conditions that do not comply with the Minimum Rules of the United Nations for the Treatment of Prisoners (Nelson Mandela Rules) and the domestic law on human rights, which can be classified as cruel, inhuman, degrading treatment, physical and psychological torture.
There are currently 14 women political prisoners who experience situations of physical and psychological torture, plus 19 elderly people and people with chronic illnesses, which they consider to be “especially critical” in terms of human rights.
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López assures that “sanctions are the only way to undermine the regime and it is a good move on the part of the United States and the European Union.” The opposition hopes that the judges in charge of passing sentences against political prisoners will be sanctioned “as soon as possible.”
In the Summit of the Americas, the Government of Nicaragua was excluded, which is branded as a dictatorship and violator of human rights, however; Daniel Ortega has minimized the event and has said that he has no interest in participating in the meeting.