Eleven former Latin American presidents united in the so-called Freedom and Democracy Group requested this Thursday that the investigations against President Daniel Ortega in the International Criminal Court be expedited “in the face of the repetitive violations of human rights” that occur in Nicaragua.
In a statement published on April 20, which is a symbolic date in Nicaragua for turn five years from the beginning of the protests against Ortega, the ex-presidents, among them Felipe Calderón, from Mexico; Iván Duque, from Colombia; and Mauricio Macri, from Argentina, said they were convinced that the actions taken by the international community have not been enough.
“The current situation (in Nicaragua) urgently requires reflection by governments committed to the rule of law and democracy… our commitment to collaborate in new mechanisms that allow Nicaragua to be held internationally accountable for its actions, including lawsuits before courts or courts,” the statement said.
In addition, the former presidents urged the governments of Latin America to take actions aimed at this end “to facilitate the operation of international justice.”
This week Ortega gave a speech regarding the five years of sociopolitical crisis that Nicaragua is experiencing in which he reiterated his message that the protests were an attempted coup against his government, established in 2007.
The president took advantage of his speech to charge against the Catholic Church, whom he pointed out for having sponsored the demonstrations and for having delivered a letter in 2018 asking for his resignation.
“The bishops gave us a letter, I grabbed the letter, leafed through it and there was the coup d’état, the bishops calmly carrying out a coup, with their signatures and last names there, with all their full names signed by all of them, there was no only bishop who did not sign, they all signed,” Ortega said.
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