During the VII Summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac), held in Argentina, the majority of the representatives of the 33 participating governments opted for silence in the face of the human rights crisis and repression in Nicaragua. “They made no mention of the situation,” denounces Mariela Belski, executive director of Amnesty International Argentina.
Through an opinion article by the human rights defender published in the Argentine newspaper infobaepoints out that in the Central American country “it will be five years in April since the state security forces brutally repressed the massive protests with hundreds of deaths and thousands of injured people.”
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It denounces that “since then, the government has adopted a series of measures that have undermined freedom of expression, political participation, the right to protest and freedom of the press.”
“Currently there are more than 200 people – human rights defenders, independent journalists, activists and members of the political opposition – imprisoned in Nicaragua solely for exercising these rights and thousands of organizations have been closed for taking positions critical of the government. In the CELAC declaration there is no mention of this situation”, adds Belski.
Faced with this situation, the activist believes “firmly that American multilateralism has to focus its efforts on finding solutions to its problems that come from guaranteeing and respecting human rights. There is potential in this type of dialogue, but also a deficit when it comes to the search for answers. What happened these days in Buenos Aires shows it clearly.
The preparations for the Summit have been marked by controversy in Argentina, since the opposition to the government of Alberto Fernández denounced the human rights violations of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, Cuban Miguel Díaz-Canel and Nicaraguan Daniel Ortega.
Finally, of the three leaders, only Díaz-Canel attended the forum, which took place between tight security measures due to protests by protesters, while Maduro canceled his trip at the last minute.
Daniel Ortega was one of those absent from the conclave, which was attended by fifteen heads of State and Government, including Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, from Brazil; Gabriel Boric, from Chile; Luis Alberto Arce, from Bolivia; Luis Lacalle Pou, from Uruguay; Gustavo Petro, from Colombia; Miguel Díaz-Canel, from Cuba, and Xiomara Castro, from Honduras. Representing the Nicaraguan president was Foreign Minister Dennis Moncada.
