The Nunca Más Nicaragua Human Rights Collective and the Fundación Puentes para el Desarrollo de Centroamérica were admitted as members of Latin American Civil Society within the Organization of American States (OAS), from where they will continue to denounce human rights violations. of the Ortega-Murillo dictatorship against the people of Nicaragua.
The notification was received this week by the two Nicaraguan organizations in exile, which will allow them to continue keeping the political and social crisis that Nicaragua is experiencing on the regional and world agenda, even when the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega definitively abandons the organization, next November , as explained by representatives of the two NGOs.
The president of the Nunca Más Nicaragua Human Rights Collective, Gonzalo Carrión, explained to Article 66 that, for the defense organization, with four years of being founded in exile, “it is an opportunity and a commitment in the logic of activism work in the defense of human rights, to be part of the OAS.”
It points out that, from this position, they will be able to participate in different spaces at the international level, in the Inter-American System and at the global level, to contribute to the “construction of the historical memory of Nicaragua and the necessary and legitimate demand to see Nicaragua freed from oppression.” .
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“The Collective reaffirms its commitment to this opportunity to participate in a civic space at the OAS. A space that precisely gives us more commitment in our mission to continue documenting individual, family and collective histories, which account for the pain caused by the terror of the dictatorship’s systematic persecution machinery,” said Carrión.
The OAS, since 1999, maintains consultations and continuous cooperation with the Member States, taking into account the contributions of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), as explained by the regional institution in its official website.
It adds that the participation of CSOs includes local organizations and broad networks of NGOs and social actors, which have contributed “to achieving hemispheric goals in strengthening democracy, protecting human rights, promoting comprehensive development, and security.” multidimensional”.
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According to the OAS Department of International Affairs, mutual trust and understanding between CSOs and the OAS have increased significantly in recent years, to the point that more than 460 NGOs have registered with the regional organization and have established almost 600 cooperation agreements.
Carrión points out that from this new space that is opening up for them in the OAS they will continue to denounce “the crimes against humanity of the dictatorship, which continue in complete impunity.”
The CSOs that make up the OAS, according to the organization guidelineThey attend the organization’s activities and can make presentations, provide information and, at the request of the OAS organs, agencies, and entities, provide specialized advice to the different instances.
For her part, the president of the Puentes Foundation for the Development of Central America, Edipcia Dubón, points out that, after the incorporation of the NGO to the OAS, on May 3, they will participate in the 53rd General Assembly, to be held in Washington DC, USA, from June 21 to 23, where they will make their debut always raising their voices in defense of human rights.
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“Being part of the OAS Civil Society space is undoubtedly a privileged space to maintain dialogue, complaints and advocacy with governments in the region, as well as with civil society, academia and the business sector,” highlights the exiled activist.
Likewise, it affirms that they will be able to attend all the spaces convened by the OAS in which the civil society of the Americas is accredited, and from there emphasize “our efforts in the fields of governance, human rights, democracy, migration, economic rights and denunciation of corruption.
For the activists, the complaints against the regime will continue from the OAS and in any international forum that is possible, even if Ortega flees from this body.
The Ortega-Murillo dictatorship denounced the OAS Democratic Charter on November 18, 2021. The organization’s statutes establish a period of two years to make the withdrawal effective, a term that expires on November 18, 2023. That day Ortega will have accomplished what the dictator who preceded him, Anastasio Somoza, did not dare to do: withdraw the State from the organization. However, the complaints will continue, according to the defenders.
