The political scientist, former presidential candidate and former politician, Felix Maradiagadescribed as an accelerated step towards “Cubanization undertaken by Orteguismo” the recent stripping of the legal personality of the Superior Council of Private Enterprise (Cosep) and 18 of its chambers.
Maradiaga pointed out that “like other illegal and tyrannical measures, this new blow to public liberties is a blow to the economy and the well-being of all Nicaraguans, without exception,” stating that the right of association “is a human right.” .
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“The freedom of desolation is what allows coordination between the different chambers so that they can work together to attract employment, in public and private investment, and can promote free trade.” he pointed.
He remarked that in the case of organized chambers and unions, business associativity is essential for economic and social development.
“Business associativity is key to agreeing on actions that create employment and attract investment, for this reason, the closure of Cosep is not only a blow to the private initiative, but also a blow to the working people,” added the exiled political scientist on the 9th. February to the United States.
For Maradiaga, this measure imposed by the dictator Daniel Ortega “is further isolating the entire country from the free market and bringing it closer to tyrannies like Cuba, Venezuela, China and Iran, which is completely atrophying the fundamental rights of their peoples, thus destroying the possibility of creating opportunities to create jobs”.
In turn, he emphasized that in the face of the new and recent onslaught against big capital, “the business sectors of Nicaragua and the entire region must speak out without hesitation.”
Related news: Headless from Cosep crushes “legal security and free enterprise” in Nicaragua
The social revolt of April 2018 was the turning point that led to the breakdown of the “marriage” between the Nicaraguan private company and the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo. The Higher Council for Private Enterprise (Cosep) and the regime agreed to apply a corporatist model in the country that worked in their favor for 11 years.
However, on March 6, 2023, the regime gave the “final blow” to the non-existent relationship it had with Cosep, which was fractured five years ago. In an unprecedented event, the Ministry of the Interior (Migob) snatched the legal personality of the employers and their 18 chambers, just a month ago it also annihilated the Association of Banks, another of the business unions.
The Ortega administration points out to the entities linked to the Nicaraguan private business association “not to promote transparency policies in the administration of funds.” However, before April 2018, the regime defended the alliance it had with the private company.
It should be noted that the consequences against the business sector have been disastrous, Ortega jailed the main union leaders for more than 15 months: José Adán Aguerri, Michael Healy Lacayo and Álvaro Vargas; former president, president and vice president of the organization respectively, accused of alleged crimes of treason against the Homeland.
Added to this wave of arrests was the capture of banker Luis Rivas Anduray, executive president of Grupo Promérica and Banco de la Producción (Banpro). The banker was accused of illegally carrying or possessing a firearm, among other crimes. All were declared stateless and their assets were confiscated.
