The administrative staff of the Organization of American States (OAS) in Managua vacated this Thursday the office they were renting in Managua, after the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo gave them an ultimatum to remove their things from the building that was raided and later declared of public utility.
Neighbors of the place reported in the afternoon the presence of several trucks removing boxes and furniture from the place that remained under police guard.
The Government of Nicaragua formalized this Wednesday the expropriation of the building through the publication in La Gaceta, the official newspaper, of the administrative agreement 10-2022 of the Attorney General’s Office, by which the building where the office worked is declared “of public utility”. of the OAS in Managua. Which consists of 296 square meters and is located in Las Sierritas de Santo Domingo, in Managua.
Hours earlier, Ortega’s former ambassador to the OAS, Arturo McFields, released a letter in which the regime demands that the administrative officials of the organization vacate immediately and hand over the facilities they had in Managua.
“All the goods, equipment, furniture, property of the OAS, that still remain in those facilities, already by decree of the Attorney General’s Office (PGR), declared of public utility and therefore property of the Nicaraguan State, those facilities we repeat, they must be immediately handed over and vacated to the State Attorney General’s Office,” the letter says.
#LAST MINUTE Dictatorship reacts angry and furious against the OAS after defeat in the Permanent Council and sends an ultimatum for them to leave the headquarters they rent in Managua. He forgets that he is committed “Pacta sunt servanda” to respect diplomatic headquarters. pic.twitter.com/K4o79bPDiD
– Arturo McFields Yescas (@ArturoMcfields) April 28, 2022
EU demand compliance with commitments
The spokeswoman for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy of the European Union (EU), Nabila Massrali, called on the Government of Nicaragua to comply with its international commitments “in particular the 1989 establishment agreement between Nicaragua and the OAS.”
“The EU deplores the recent seizure of OAS facilities by the Nicaraguan authorities. This violates the basic diplomatic norms according to the Vienna Convention of 1961, ”said the EU official on the Twitter social network.
The EU deplores the recent seizure of the @OAS_official premises by Nicaraguan authorities. This violates basic diplomatic norms as per the 1961 Vienna Convention. Nicaragua must abide by its international commitments, notably the 1989 establishment agreement between Nicaragua & OAS
— Nabila Massrali (@NabilaEUspox) April 28, 2022
Regime had to negotiate with the owners
The declaration of “public utility” of the building that the OAS rented, three days after it was taken military manual by the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo, it was a “totally arbitrary” process, say lawyers consulted by CONFIDENTIALsince —in addition to having broken into a building protected by diplomatic immunity— the due process established in the laws of the country was violated.
A lawyer explained, on condition of anonymity, that although the declaration of “public utility” of a property is a legal figure in Nicaraguan legislation, the normal process is that the corresponding mayor’s office notifies those affected and then establishes a negotiation with them. to establish the amount of compensation. Once there is an agreement between the parties, the relocation proceeds.
However, Law 229, the Expropriation Law, in its article four, which is cited by the Office of the Attorney General of the Republic, only states that “people who believe they have rights” over the expropriated assets “will have a maximum term of fifteen days to appear before the office designated for that purpose, in order to reach an agreement directly with them on the amount and form of payment of the compensation. If within eight days of having been presented this agreement is not reached, the expropriation trial will proceed.
The president of the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (Cenidh), Vilma Núñez, specified that “the declaration of public utility does not consume the expropriation.” In other words, the government should not have taken over the building until it had duly compensated the owners. “Everything the government continues to do is in violation of its own laws and its international commitments,” she added.
According to the Attorney General’s Office, the Nicaraguan Institute of Culture will develop and implement the “Museum of Infamy” project, “in order to promote a culture of respect for our sovereignty, education about recent history, regarding events that have harmed the main and elementary human rights of the Nicaraguan people.
Owner is the wife of a Cuban journalist
The building expropriated by the Ortega-Murillo regime belonged to the sisters María Auxiliadora and Luz Marina Navarrete Guevara, the first married to an American resident in Nicaragua and the second is the wife of the Cuban journalist from the official Prensa Latina agency, Pedro Rioseco, who He resides on the island, according to the digital media outlet 14yMedio.
“Rioseco, a native of Camagüey, highly regarded by the ruling party, met Luz Marina Navarrete when he was stationed on Nicaraguan soil, between 1986 and 1989, when the Sandinistas were in power and Cuban “advisors” swarmed Nicaragua. The Prensa Latina correspondent was again in Managua between 1990 and 1995, when Daniel Ortega was in the opposition and governed “from below,” as he used to say,” the article says.
According to 14yMedio “the Prensa Latina correspondent was again in Managua between 1990 and 1995, when Ortega was in the opposition and governed “from below”. He currently works in the digital division of Prensa Latina and is an assistant professor at the Faculty of Communication at the University of Havana.
The ocupation military manual
On the afternoon of Sunday, April 24, the Nicaraguan Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed the OAS General Secretariat and Nicaraguan society that the Ortega government decided to “cancel and close” the organization’s offices in Managua, “and so He did it by force,” said the OAS Secretary General, Luis Almagro, in a letter sent to the Permanent Council on Tuesday.
“Immediately after” Foreign Minister Denis Moncada declared that the OAS office was closed, “police forces occupied the headquarters of said office, seizing your files, as well as all the existing material. Officials of the General Secretariat in Nicaragua can run serious risks,” Almagro continued.
The occupation of the OAS headquarters in Managua is an unprecedented event in the history of the regional organization and constitutes “a flagrant violation of international law” that exposes the country to “profound repercussions” in its relationship with all the member states of the organization regional.
