The draft resolution that the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States (OAS) will debate on August 12, on the situation in Nicaragua, “strongly” condemns the repressive actions that the Ortega-Murillo regime has carried out against non-governmental organizations, religious and media.
In the resolution, the OAS Permanent Council expressed the “deep concern of the member countries,” because despite the exhortations, resolutions, and mandates of the General Assembly and the Permanent Council itself, the “climate of oppression has worsened with a growing number of arbitrary arrests; forced closure of non-governmental organizations; the autocratic seizure of mayorships in five municipalities by an opposition political party; an intensification of the repression of journalists and the freedom of the media; and attacks on nuns and priests of the Roman Church of the Catholic faith.”
In this sense, the Permanent Council resolved to strongly condemn “the forced closure of non-governmental organizations, and the harassment and arbitrary restrictions imposed on religious organizations and those that criticize the government and its actions in Nicaragua.”
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The request comes days after the Ortega-Murillo regime undertook a new attack on the Catholic Church, closing, through the Nicaraguan Institute of Telecommunications and Post Office (Telcor), several stations run by the Diocese of Matagalpa. The dictatorship also imposed a police siege on the Episcopal Curia where Monsignor Rolando Álvarez is present along with other lay people.
The document also indicates that the Permanent Council is concerned because the Sandinista regime has “ignored the efforts of the OAS Secretary General (Luis Almagro)”, who, following the instructions of the Permanent Mission of the Council, has sought to involve Nicaragua in the discussion of the ways in which a high-level group could be invited to the Central American country “to explore the possibility of helping the Government restore respect for and defense of democracy and human rights in accordance with the OAS Charters” .
Reiterates release of political prisoners
The draft bill also reiterates to the Ortega-Murillo administration the “insistence” on releasing all political prisoners and putting an end to the harassment and intimidation of the independent press “and guaranteeing the exercise of the right to freedom of expression.”
In recent weeks, the Sandinista regime has closed at least a dozen media outlets, including stations with religious content and departmental news spaces.
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Finally, the document reiterates that, despite the fact that Daniel Ortega denounced the OAS Charter in November 2021 and has withdrawn its ambassador, Orlando Tardencilla, in April this year, In addition to seizing the headquarters of the organization in Nicaragua, “the legal obligations of the Government of Nicaragua, by virtue of the Charter, remain in force until the effective date of Nicaragua’s withdrawal from the Organization on November 18, 2023”, that is, It does not exempt that sessions can be held to address the crisis that Nicaragua is going through.
The Permanent Council entrusted the secretary general of the organization to transmit this resolution to the Nicaraguan regime.
The permanent mission of Antigua and Barbuda, together with seven other states, asked the OAS to hold an extraordinary session to evaluate the situation of repression that Nicaragua is experiencing. The member states that supported the resolution requested that the meeting be scheduled for Friday, August 12, at three in the afternoon.
