Nicaraguan opponents and civil society organizations have urged the OAS General Assemblywhich is being held from June 21 to 23 in Washington, to pronounce forcefully on the crisis under the government of President Daniel Ortega.
Lawyer Gonzalo Carrión, from the Nicaraguan collective Nicaragua Nunca Más, told the voice of america that human rights violations cannot be left out of any pronouncement on Managua.
Carrión alluded to a draft resolution on Nicaragua that would be on the table of the General Assembly this week and whose draft was published in advance by Managua’s former ambassador to the OAS, Arturo McFields. The representation of the government of the president of Brazil, Lula Da Silva, would have requested changes in the resolution that is being prepared. According to Carrión, Brazil would be softening its tone towards the government of Daniel Ortega.
“Brazil’s position is in bad taste, its government intends to change the name of things, says that they want to strengthen democracy, unaware that Nicaragua is ungoverned by a tyrannical family,” Carrión points out.
The newspaper The Press reported that the Brazilian Foreign Secretary, María Laura de Rocha, would have avoided talking about the changes proposed by her representation to the resolution on Nicaragua in the OAS, arguing: “We are looking for a text that is interesting for everyone.”
Consulted by Nicaraguan media about it, the OAS Secretary General, Luis Almagro, said that he respected Brazil’s position.
“We have the deepest respect for Brazil’s position on all multilateral issues on the agenda at the Organization of American States and we believe that Brazil’s position is always positive and contributes resolution within the system,” he said.
When advancing part of the draft, McFields estimated that “Lula continues to protect Ortega in the OAS” by suggesting the strengthening of democracy in Nicaragua. “Lula’s document in defense of Ortega in Nicaragua ensures that democracy exists and that the confiscations are an alleged invention,” McFields estimated.
What does the fragment of the draft resolution say?
The fragment of the draft revealed by McFields urges the Ortega government to “refrain from repressing leaders of the Catholic Church” and to provide information on the health of Bishop Rolando Álvarez, who is in custody.
In addition, the draft requests “to call on the Nicaraguan government to annul the regulations” that deprive opponents of their nationality. It also urges the government to attend to the recommendations of the IACHR and for the OAS to pronounce itself in favor of a dialogue at the highest level in the Central American nation.
The opposition’s claims
Parallel to the criticism from human rights organizations, 54 Nicaraguans stripped of their nationality signed a proclamation in which they criticized the draft proposed by Brazil and urged to “unambiguously condemn the repressive State that subjugates Nicaraguans.”
“We call on the representatives in the OAS to be consistent with the statements issued in previous Assemblies; to respect the investigations carried out by expert organizations, such as the IACHR and the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights”, says the document signed by those stripped of their nationality, among them the journalist Carlos Fernando Chamorro and the former magistrate of the Supreme Court of Justice, Rafael Solís.
The Nicaraguan crisis turned five years old in April without a solution in sight, according to opposition organizations that warn of the establishment of “a dictatorship” in the Central American country.
The crisis has left at least half a million Nicaraguans in exile, the majority in the United States, Costa Rica and Spain.
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