The regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo could be seeking a dialogue with the international community to lift the sanctions against its officials and institutions, in exchange it would release some 100 political prisoners, European diplomatic sources revealed to the newspaper La Prensa. According to opponents consulted by Article 66, the Nicaraguan regime “will end up negotiating” a solution to the sociopolitical crisis that the country has been going through since April 2018, but it would do so with the United States.
Juan Diego Barberena and Héctor Mairena, both members of the Political Council of the Blue and White National Unity (UNAB), consider that in order to start any dialogue or negotiation of the Ortega and Murillo dictatorship with the United States, it must first go through the liberation of all political prisoners.
Another of the conditions for the conversation between Washington and Managua to begin is the annulment of all judicial processes against the opponents, the guarantees of the safe return of the more than 500,000 Nicaraguans who have gone into exile, the restitution of fundamental rights of the population, the restoration of the rule of law and democracy.
Related news: The United States confirms “bilateral communication” with the Ortega administration
Mairena recalled that Ortega has not complied with the agreements reached at the negotiating table with the opposition in March 2019. The regime’s delegates signed the documents that established the cessation of repression and the restoration of freedoms in the country, but the couple dictatorial continued to repress the citizenry with blood and fire. Even four of the members of the opposition delegation are in jail and others in exile.
«At this moment there is no factual element of messages or actions, more than what has been discussed or presumed about the visit (by Daniel Ortega) to Humberto (Ortega, his brother), that Ortega is heading towards a negotiation. We are clear that in the end he will end up negotiating (with the United States),” said Barberena.
“The way the regime has acted, I don’t think there is a possibility of dialogue with the international community. The messages have been clear from the dictatorship, who they want to talk to is the United States (on the issue of sanctions),” he added.
Ortega’s approaches
The Government of Joe Biden confirmed May 6, 2022 that it maintains “bilateral communication” with the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo, one day after the North American newspaper The New York Times revealed that Laureano Ortega Murillo, son of the presidential couple, would have sought dialogue with the United States with the aim of obtaining “sanctions relief for his family.”
The State Department spokesperson indicated that the United States government remains “open to frank discussions about the steps to return to democratic norms and respect for human rights in Nicaragua, the Ortega-Murillo regime has not shown seriousness in their purpose towards a genuine dialogue”.
In its publication, The New York Times revealed that “shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the most prominent son of Nicaragua’s autocratic president, Daniel Ortega, quietly approached Washington to restart dialogue, according to officials and diplomats familiar with the approach.” ».
Laureano Ortega’s objective was to secure relief from sanctions for the Ortega family and their inner circle in exchange for the release of the political prisonersa priority for the Biden administration.
On January 27, 2022, State Department spokesman Ned Price said that “the United States was willing to support a negotiation process with the Nicaraguan government to find a way out of the current political crisis.”
