The Permanent Council of the Organization of American States (OAS) addressed this Wednesday in plenary session the seizure of its offices in Managua, with the majority of its members condemning the act.
The secretary general, Luis Almagro, said that the occupation of the headquarters by the Nicaraguan government “is a dangerous precedent for Latin America” that has not happened before and that it violates diplomatic immunity agreements that are similar to those of embassies, so who asked for measures in this regard.
Almagro also stated that the building, now in state hands Nicaraguan, was not even owned by the organization but was rented. “We are facing the most serious international illegalities followed by the most absurd national measures, which affect innocents,” Almagro said.
This Wednesday it became official in The Gazette the appropriation of the OAS building through the Office of the Attorney General of the Republic, which declared the building where the organization operated to be of public utility.
A “Museum of Infamy” will be created in the place, said the vice president of Nicaragua, Rosario Murillo, in allusion to what -according to her- represents the organism.
Almagro said that the events in Nicaragua regarding the OAS “had not happened before, not even with the worst American dictators, including the Somozas.”
“They never took measures like this, this opens a precedent that tomorrow they can take more abuses,” he said.
USA: “This is an affront to the OAS as an institution”
Various countries condemned the seizure of the OAS headquarters. The representative of the United States in the organization, Bradley Freden, declared that the Ortega government “demonstrates once again its opposition to this council and to the peaceful order.”
He also said that the actions were an affront to the OAS as an institution “and to each of our governments,” for which he requested measures in this regard.
“We cannot ignore this serious act if we want to preserve the ability of OAS personnel to do their work on the ground throughout the region, often under difficult conditions,” he said.
“We have to condemn this action in the strongest and most emphatic terms and consider other, more concrete responses,” he added.
On the other hand, the Canadian ambassador, Hugh Adsett, said he was surprised by the seizure of the OAS offices and stated that the situation in Nicaragua continues to deteriorate and “the regime has ignored efforts at dialogue.”
“These violations of the agreements will affect the regime’s relations with the member countries and this must be responded to,” Adsett pointed out.
Alejandro Ordóñez Maldonado, permanent representative of Colombia, condemned the seizure of the building and stated that the “Nicaraguan regime has clearly committed an illegal act,” adding that “it must repair the damage caused.”
Peru also joined the criticism and through its representative, Harol Forsyth, who said that what happened “had never been seen.”
“I have no memory of an event like this, nor of a declaration of a unpleasant of a diplomatic nuncio,” he said in reference to the Vatican envoy who was recently expelled from Nicaragua.
“What we are seeing is the closest thing we have seen to a movie,” he questioned.
“The Nicaraguan dictatorship suffers a devastating moral and political defeat”
The reactions after the forum were immediate. Arturo McFields, who until a month ago was Ortega’s representative in the OAS and then he turned his backwrote on Twitter that the Nicaraguan government suffered “a moral and political defeat” in the forum because “the Americas have said with one voice that they do not agree to the confiscation of assets.”
“The assault on the OAS headquarters has been categorically repudiated and these criminal actions have been questioned. The Vienna Convention and international agreements have been violated,” said McFields.
Nicaragua is experiencing one of its worst political crises since 2018, when demonstrations against President Ortega took place, which were repressed with violence, leaving more than 300 dead.
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