The United States on Tuesday rejected Nicaragua’s decision to break off their relationships with the Organization of American States (OAS) and take over the agency’s offices in the country.
The State Department accused Ortega of wanting to undermine the scrutiny of the OAS in the face of allegations of human rights abuses in the country and of what the US describes as an electoral “farce” in November of last year.
“Nicaragua’s decision (…) serves as an effort to undermine OAS efforts to hold the regime accountable for its sham November 2021 elections and ongoing human rights abuses,” he told the press. voice of america a State Department spokesperson in an email.
The presidential elections that Ortega was given a fourth term they were rejected both by the OAS and the US as well as by the European Union and international organizations, which denounced the lack of transparency and the arrest of opposition politicians prior to the elections.
“We strongly condemn Nicaragua’s decision to occupy the OAS offices in Managua,” the spokesperson added, shortly before Nicaraguan Vice President Rosario Murillo announced that the building will pass into the hands of the state.
The Nicaraguan government withdrew the Nicaraguan representatives from the OAS and took its Managua offices. Nicaragua requested its departure from the organization in November of last year, which will officially end in 2023, as explained by the OAS itself in a statement.
US Congress also condemns Ortega’s actions
US senators also spoke out on Wednesday against the actions of the Nicaraguan government regarding the OAS.
The Republican senator for the state of Florida, Marco Rubio, accused the Ortega government of imitating Cuba’s “anti-American position” in international organizations.
“Ortega’s decision to leave the OAS reaffirms his disinterest in representative democracy and the rule of law,” Rubio added in a comment sent to the VOA.
Cuba was expelled from the OAS in 1962, during the Cold War. In 2009, the organization lifted the suspension of the Caribbean country, but the Cuban government has not expressed interest in returning to the organization.
For his part, Democratic Senator Tim Kaine also rejected Ortega’s measures, pointing to them as part of an effort to eliminate “the possibility of criticism” of his government.
“The Ortega regime expresses empty criticism of the OAS to mask its concerted effort to eliminate the possibility of criticism from all corners: students, churches, civil society,” said the Virginia state legislator in a written statement to the VOA.
Nicaraguan Foreign Minister Denis Moncada accused the regional entity of being a “US colony” at the press conference in which he announced the decision to withdraw its representatives.
The president of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega, has described both the US and the OAS as “interventionist.”
Nicaragua suffers a serious sociopolitical crisis that began four years ago with the anti-government protests over the increase in social security contributions. The government assured that the demonstrations were an attempted coup against Ortega’s mandate, which has been in power for more than 15 consecutive years.
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