The opposition Blue and White National Unity (UNAB) rejected this Wednesday a possible dialogue between Nicaraguan businessmen and the country’s president, Daniel Ortega, to overcome the socio-political crisis that the country has been experiencing since April 2018.
The rejection was made public after the president of the Superior Council of Private Enterprise (Cosep), César Zamora, told Channel 12 of local television that “communication channels between the chambers and the Government have already been established,” and that It would have the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI) as a facilitator.
“The UNAB categorically rejects the statements by César Zamora, in which he has announced an alleged dialogue between the chambers associated with Cosep with the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo, and which has CABEI as a ‘facilitator,’” the movement said. opponent in a statement.
The National Unity based its rejection on the fact that Zamora, “who holds the position of president of Cosep, before the imprisonment of the previous president (Michael Healy), has been and is a staunch defender of the corporatist model ‘dictatorship-entrepreneurs’, which sacrifices the democracy and respect for human rights.
Related news: Unab condemns Cosep’s dialogue intentions with Ortega “ignoring the crimes of the dictatorship”
The members of the UNAB, made up mostly of the so-called “self-convened” protesters of 2018, point to the “public-private partnership model”, established between Cosep and Ortega in the past decade, as responsible for the discontent that triggered the crisis. of Nicaragua four years ago, and that left hundreds dead and tens of thousands in exile.
The dissident group also recalled that “we have been permanent critics of the role played by Dante Mossi, president of CABEI, as an ally of the dictatorship and facilitator of the financial flows that this institution grants to the Ortega Murillo regime.”
So far, none of the chambers associated with Cosep has supported Zamora’s statements.
DO NOT GIVE “LEGITIMACY TO THE REGIME”
COSEP has indeed shown its support for a group of relatives of “political prisoners” who have requested, on two occasions this year, a new “national dialogue” with Ortega, whose “government has already shown signs of goodwill” by sending several convicts sent home to prison, which has caused controversy between various opposition movements and victims of the crisis.
“We denounce and condemn any maneuver that only intends to grant a supposed ‘legitimacy’ to the regime. We demand and will continue to demand the total and unconditional freedom of all political prisoners and the restitution of public liberties in Nicaragua, essential conditions to transition to democracy,” said the Unit.
“We claim and defend the right of entrepreneurs to invest and seek profits. However, what is unacceptable and reprehensible from every point of view is that they try to do it at any cost, ignoring the crimes of the dictatorship and the flagrant human rights violations suffered by thousands of Nicaraguans, including union leaders and businessmen. large, small and medium”, he added.
Related news: Three years after the second attempt at dialogue, Ortega breaches agreements and increases “authoritarian drift”
The crisis that Nicaragua is experiencing left at least 355 dead in 2018, according to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), and at least 200,000 exiles, mainly in Costa Rica, according to official figures from that country.
This crisis was accentuated by the November 2021 elections, which confirmed Ortega and Murillo in power with their rivals in jail or in exile, a process that was rejected by the international community, including the Organization of American States (OAS). ) and the European Union.
