Civil society delegations that participated in the Democratic Governance forum, held within the framework of the Summit of the Americas, demand that the regimes of Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela “eliminate all forms of political violence and the immediate liberation of all deprived of liberty for political reasons.
“We view with concern the degradation of democracies in the region, due to the establishment of authoritarian leaders, the persistence of structural inequalities and the implementation of restrictive and regressive human rights actions and/or policies that significantly aggravate the quality of life. in all countries and also to those who have not renounced the death penalty”, they denounced in the document presented to the Summit.
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The groups also called on states to condemn dictatorships and take action to promote the right to democracy among the peoples of the region. Given this, they asked to defend and protect “the vulnerable and especially exposed groups, such as: the Afro-descendant community, indigenous people, corruption complainants, human rights and environmental defenders, LGBTIQ + communities, migrants, refugees and journalists.”
The regional groups also highlighted the importance of “guaranteeing the independence of the powers of the State, in particular, of the judiciary and access to justice, as well as of national and subnational electoral bodies. Let there be no more impunity in the Americas.”
Nicaragua has been submerged for four years in a sociopolitical crisis that, according to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), has left at least 355 dead, of which Ortega recognizes 200, and has driven more than 100,000 Nicaraguans into exile, as well as the closure of media outlets and the cancellation of hundreds of NGOs.
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The crisis in Nicaragua was accentuated in the November 2021 elections, when Ortega was re-elected for a fifth term, fourth consecutive and second along with his wife, Rosario Murillo, as vice president, with his main contenders in prison. The Summit of the Americas brings together all the countries of the continent, but the exclusions created controversy.
The civil society groups asked the participating countries to “create mechanisms that address issues of Human Rights, Transparency and Anticorruption, to achieve a true and effective Democratic Governance, the Nations have the great challenge of overcoming corruption and lack of transparency” .
