The Honduran economist and director of the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI), Dante Mossie, He reacted this Sunday to the criticism of Nicaraguans who point out that he finances the government of President Daniel Ortega, whose government is being questioned internationally for human rights violations.
Mossi, who participated in the inauguration of the president of Costa Rica, Rodrigo Chaves, was consulted about his trip to Managua on May 5, when he held meetings with the Nicaraguan private sector, as well as with government representatives.
At that time, the opponents published a statement in which they called the director of CABEI an “accomplice of Ortega” and reproached him for announcing meetings with local businessmen, the president and vice president of the largest employers’ association in Nicaragua –Michael Heally and Álvaro Vargas respectively — were in a maximum security cell for political reasons.
“CABEI is being an accomplice of Ortega by meeting with a private company whose elected officials are in jail, therefore, those who show up for this session do so because they are being held with a gun to their temples or because they are participants in the actions of the dictatorship. ”, indicated a group of opposition organizations in a public letter.
In this regard, Mossi called on opponents to “recourse to appropriate human rights bodies” and refused to comment on the arrests of both Heally and Vargas, who on April 29 were found guilty of the alleged crime of “undermining the integrity national” in a process designated as being “political”.
“There are appropriate instances (to file complaints) and in this case CABEI is not a human rights instance. I would urge people who have claims, validated or not, to go to these instances to expose their cases,” Mossi told the VOA.
The economist challenged the critics of the Central American Bank that if they “have a strong conviction” of their demands, they approach the directors of each country that vote in favor of approving CABEI loans to Nicaragua.
“Each member country votes, so I call (people) if there is a very strong conviction of this, to approach the directors who are the ones who vote, the administration responds to each country, about the programs of debates and approval from CABEI,” said Mossi.
According to the president of the financial entity, Nicaragua receives an annual allocation of about 600 million dollars a year, as does Costa Rica, and added that it could receive more money depending on the requests they make.
“Nicaragua is in good relations with the bank to access new programs and projects, whether the directors decide to approve or not, that is another issue, but Nicaragua is in the best relations,” Mossi concluded.
As a result of the protests in 2018 in Nicaragua, various opposition groups asked the United States and its allies that multilateral organizations stop lending to Ortega.
CABEI, for its part, continued the flow of economic support to Managua, although in March 2020 it suspended a disbursement of more than 7 million dollars that were intended for the National Police, which is sanctioned by the United States.
Connect with the Voice of America! Subscribe to our channel Youtube and turn on notifications, or follow us on social media: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram
