Brazil today joined a group of eight countries that will file a complaint with the United Nations over human rights abuses in Nicaragua under the regime of Daniel Ortega and his wife Rosario Murillo, who have been repeatedly accused of committing crimes against humanity by human rights organizations.
The government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will join a joint declaration with Argentina, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Paraguay and Peru, accusing the Nicaraguan government of torture, forced disappearance and repression against opponents, religious leaders and students.
Brazil has radically changed its position in response to accusations against the Ortega government in Nicaragua, which it had preferred to remain silent on; however, this is the result of increased tensions between the two leftist governments.
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The Sandinista government decided to expel the Brazilian ambassador in Managua at the beginning of August, ordered the closure of a Brazilian chamber of commerce, and Ortega launched direct attacks against the Brazilian president in official acts.
Ortega lashed out at Lula after the Rio de Janeiro president questioned Maduro’s victory in Venezuela. “You’re also groveling, Lula!” “If you want the Bolivarian people to respect you, respect the victory of President Nicolás Maduro, and don’t go groveling there,” said the Nicaraguan dictator.
Brazil’s decision comes after the UN presented data from a new investigation against Ortega in which he is again accused of committing torture, sexual abuse and repression against political prisoners.
“The human rights situation in Nicaragua has seriously deteriorated since last year, with an increase in cases of arbitrary detentions, intimidation of opponents, ill-treatment in custody and attacks against indigenous peoples,” says a report by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights at the UN.
Lula, for his part, said last July that he tried several times to contact his Nicaraguan counterpart by phone; however, he was not answered and decided not to call Managua again.
“The way Lula has behaved in the face of the victory of the legitimate president of Venezuela is shameful, shameful, repeating the slogans of the Yankees, of the Europeans, of the groveling governments of Latin America,” Ortega said during a virtual summit of heads of state and government of ALBA-TCP.
