Antigua and Barbuda, together with Canada, Costa Rica, Chile and the United States, ask the Organization of American States (OAS) to include “the situation in Nicaragua” on the agenda of the organization’s next General Assembly of Foreign Ministers, to be held in next October in Lima, Peru.
Through a letter, the five countries presented the petition to the Presidency of the Preparatory Commission for the 52nd meeting of the General Assembly. The news was announced by the former Nicaraguan ambassador to the Arturo Mcfields organization, who stated that “the situation in Nicaragua and the persecution of the Catholic Church will not go unpunished. The world demands a change in Nicaragua, democracy, respect for human rights, freedom of political prisoners.
In the last General Assembly, held last November, 25 countries approved a resolution that declared that the November 7 voting in Nicaragua “was not free, fair or transparent and did not have democratic legitimacy.” In these elections, Daniel Ortega was re-elected for the fourth consecutive term.
Recently, 27 member countries of the OAS voted against the Nicaraguan government, calling on it to cease the harassment against the Catholic Church and respect the human rights of Nicaraguans. After the resolution, the Undersecretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs of the United States, Brian A. Nichols, joined the organization’s rejection of Ortega’s repressive actions against Nicaragua.
The diplomat stated that “the resounding vote of the OAS condemning the Ortega-Murillo regime for its human rights abuses reminds us that, although the regime has abandoned the building, the Nicaraguan people continue to be part of the family of the Americas” .
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He emphasized the insistence of the Joe Biden government for the Nicaraguan dictator to heed “this hemispheric call,” which is to cease the abuses committed by his repressive apparatus.
The resolution that requires Ortega to respect the rights of Nicaraguans points to the “forced closure” of non-profit organizations and foundations, which already total more than 1,500 NGOs with legal personality canceled by the National Assembly, which responds to the interests of the dictatorial couple in a persecution against freedom of association that seeks to limit civic space in the country, according to human rights organizations.
