There is no democracy in Nicaragua, Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves said on Wednesday during a conversation in the framework of the second Democracy Summit organized by the United States.
During the talk, Chaves recalled that in the Nicaraguan elections held in November 2021, Daniel Ortega won the a new mandate five years, after arresting all the presidential candidates.
“The truth is that in Nicaragua you don’t see any democracy. We are neighbors and we should have a relationship of peace with the Nicaraguan people but, in the last election, all the candidates for the presidency of the republic were imprisoned. There is no democracy there, that is not an expression of democracy,” said the president.
Costa Rica, which is one of the five co-host countries of the forum promoted by Washington, is considered one of the most solid democracies in the world and in this sense, Chaves said that “he feels good about it, since the country has the moral legitimacy to lead, together with the United States, and other democracies” an event like the current one.
regional challenges
But the president recognized the regional challenges, such as those experienced in Nicaragua or El Salvador, although in this country he said that the issue of democracy “was more debatable” because the mandate received by the government of President Nayib Bukele through the midterm election of the congress, “gave him an unprecedented supermajority that goes to the faction or political group that supports President Bukele.”
“Within this context, certain decisions have been made that many people do not like and I am not going to discuss tastes, but you have to understand that there was an election, he won the presidency, there was a term election where the people, through a democratic process, gives them unprecedented political power as far as I know in the country of El Salvador, and even in the region,” said Chaves.
Bukele is accused by human rights organizations of concentrating power and demolishing the institutions in the Central American country. He recently announced that he will seek re-election despite the fact that the Constitution prohibits him from doing so.
On the other hand, the Legislative Assembly, with a pro-government majority, has dismissed titular and substitute magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice and the country’s Attorney General.
The international community, including the US government, has expressed concern over the decision, which is seen by some as an attempt to concentrate power.
In the case of Nicaragua, Ortega, who has been in power for more than 15 years, is accused of establishing a dictatorship which has committed crimes against humanity against citizens who rise up to protest.
“I believe that (democracy) also suffers in Venezuela and I believe that it is necessary for the world to try to help its peoples to achieve the blessing that we have in Costa Rica and elsewhere, which is democracy,” Chaves said in this regard.
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