Daniel Ortega uses double standards with international law

Daniel Ortega uses double standards with international law

Daniel Ortega’s speech after the judgment of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which determined that Colombia violated the territorial waters of Nicaragua, became another questioning point for the dictator when he demanded that the South American country abide by the resolution “for the sake of respect for international law.”

Ortega himself, his wife Rosario Murillo and the State under his control have ignored the respective international commitments that Nicaragua has with respect to human rights, a matter that is also part of international law.

“It is as valid to comply with the sentences on (territorial) delimitation as it is with the sentences that have to do with human rights and prisoners of conscience,” said an anonymous diplomat.

A jurist consulted, who prefers anonymity, said that Ortega shows “hypocrisy” in international law “by filling his mouth with the Hague ruling and, on the other hand, completely ignoring the rulings of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ( Inter-American Court) which is also an international court”.

“An international court that has declared Nicaragua in contempt, by disobeying the orders of precautionary measures issued to protect political prisoners who languish and die in their jails,” he said in reference to the resolution of November 22 of last year of the Inter-American Court in the case of Juan Sebastián Chamorro and other prisoners of conscience, whom he ordered to release.

The other political prisoners, to whom the Inter-American Court refers in its resolution, are the former presidential candidate Félix Maradiaga, the former president of the Superior Council of Private Enterprise José Adán Aguerri, the opposition leader Violeta Granera, among others.

“In the opinion of the Court, the position assumed by Nicaragua, according to which there is no will to comply with what is ordered, constitutes an act of evident contempt for the decisions of this Court, contrary to the international principle that imposes on the State the duty to comply with its conventional obligations in good faith”, recalled the international tribunal.

Violations of the Constitution

For Juan Carlos Arce, a lawyer for the Human Rights group Nunca Más, this request for “respect” shows the double standards of the regime if one takes into account its position of lack of commitment to the obligations that the country has with the inter-American protection mechanisms. that have been expressed for some time for the cessation of repression and the disarmament of parastatal forces.

Those commitments are established, even in the Nicaraguan Constitution, which Ortega has violated countless times before, one of them to be re-elected in 2011 using a judgment of the Supreme Court of Justice under the control of his party.

According to article 46 of the Constitution, “every person enjoys state protection and recognition of the rights inherent to the human person, of unrestricted respect, promotion and protection of human rights.”

In the same constitutional article, the validity of rights consigned in instruments such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the American Declaration of Rights and Duties of Man, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the International Covenant on Civil Rights and Politicians of the United Nations Organization. Also the American Convention on Human Rights of the Organization of American States.

However, Nicaragua is experiencing a serious human rights crisis that has drawn the attention of the Organization of American States and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, as well as the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

More of 300 people were killed for the excessive use of force by the State when the State responded with bullets to thousands of protesters in 2018. The Police imposed a state of emergency, more than 100,000 Nicaraguans went into exile and there are currently 181 political prisoners.

The doctrine of human rights

According to the jurist, human rights are part of international law and are included in numerous treaties, which the signatory States are obliged to respect.

“International law is born as jus gentium, law of peoples. The birth of it is in the masterful doctrinal elaborations of the School of Salamanca, on the rights of the American indigenous peoples. Ortega should know this and if he doesn’t know, his advisers should remind him every day,” he added.

For the Nicaraguan dictatorship, the Executive was the victim of an attempted coup. In 2021, the justice system under Ortega’s control arrested more than 40 people, including seven presidential candidates, thereby eliminating electoral competition in the November presidential elections, in which he was re-elected, sowing fear among the citizenry.

Since then, the ruler has maintained that he was the victim of a conspiracy to overthrow him. In his speeches his attack on the Catholic Church -defender of fundamental rights-, on the United States, the European Union and Colombia is recurrent because they have asked him in different international forums to respect human rights and to immediately return the country to the democracy.

The Organization of American States (OAS) reiterated with a majority of 27 countries the call to release political prisoners in February 2022 and declared their dismay at the death in captivity of retired general Hugo Torres, a hero of the anti-Somoza struggle turned into a political prisoner by the Nicaraguan dictatorship.

“The circumstances of his arrest and untimely death constitute a painful injustice for both him and his bereaved family, and an affront to the values ​​that our nations defend,” the regional body’s statement said.

The OAS also declared last November as illegitimate results of the votes of that same month, by means of which Ortega extends himself in power for a fourth consecutive period with his wife for the second time as vice president. The Nicaraguan regime, however, has ignored the call of the majority of the international community that has demanded the release of political prisoners and, instead, has strengthened its ties with China and Russia.

The Hague sentence, pointing out the violations of Nicaragua’s rights by Colombia, was considered by Paul Reichler, Nicaragua’s former adviser before the ICJ, as a historic triumph.

Of the seven operative points, only one is contrary to the interests of the Central American country. Upon learning of the ruling, Colombian President Iván Duque said from San Andrés that he would not allow his country’s rights in the Caribbean Sea to be limited.

Reichler resigned after serving the country for more than twenty years, questioning Ortega for the establishment of a new dictatorship “not very different from the one he helped to overthrow with false elections, a submissive legislature, a corrupt judicial system incapable of imparting justice, and the silencing of freedom of expression and independent media.”



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