The United States regretted this Thursday, January 26, that Nicaragua is isolated from the inter-American system, because the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo has no interest in talking with the Organization of American States (OAS) or with its own people, expressed the newly appointed US ambassador to that regional body, Francisco O Mora.
The diplomat denounced the repression that has been seen in Nicaragua as brutal and vindicated in a press conference the role of the OAS as a regional forum, just when Latin America faces a deterioration of democracy and the situation of human rights. Nicaragua is one of the most worrisome cases in the hemisphere, according to what different members of the international community have expressed.
Mora came out in front of the questions that have been made about the lack of effectiveness of the OAS, in the case of Nicaragua, where Ortega has refused any dialogue, has continued the repression and keeps 235 political prisoners in inhumane conditions, who said last December that he would not release.
“(The OAS) does not have hard tools that could pressure a country to carry out the reforms and democratization that is required, but it has helped to isolate the regime. Nicaragua is isolated by the resolutions approved by members of the OAS, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) has presented reports (also)”, explained Mora.
He assured that both the agency and the United States would be willing to have a dialogue if the Nicaraguan authorities are serious.
It was his first conference as permanent representative of the United States to the OAS, a position he assumed at the end of December 2022, emphasizing the axes of the current US government: the defense of democracy, institutions, and respect for human rights. , as well as the importance of working on concrete actions on the issue of climate change on the multilateral agenda.
The diplomat has a doctorate in International Affairs and a master’s degree in Inter-American Studies from the University of Miami, but he also served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Western Hemisphere between 2009 and 2013, during the Barack Obama Administration, when Joe Biden was vice president. .
The objective is to strengthen the OAS
“The president (Biden) has prioritized human rights and democracy when they are under attack. My responsibility is to take that message to the OAS, let’s not forget the inter-American charter, to defend democracy and human rights,” reiterated Mora, who showed interest in strengthening the organization to support the interests of the United States and mutual interests with other countries. .
The US official’s statements occur two days after the VII Summit of the Community of Latin American States (CELAC) closed, which has served as a meeting point for the main leaders of the region, some of them from the left such as the presidents of Brazil. , Colombia and Chile, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Gabriel Boric and Gustavo Petro, respectively.
In fact, Boric spoke out in his speech for the release of prisoners of conscience in the Central American country and Petro spoke out because there were no political prisoners in the region.
The CELAC meeting that opted for regional integration in its declaration had the participation of the representative of Venezuela and Nicaragua. The forum called for the suspension of the embargo on Cuba, whose regimes are considered dictatorships and are pointed out as violators of human rights.
“As you know, there are a number of organizations in Latin America that are examples of regional integration and cooperation. It seems good to us: CARICOM (Caribbean Community), UNASUR (the Union of South American Nations), but I am going to reiterate that there is no other organization where all the democratically elected countries have a presence and have the capacity to solve problems”, Mora said, always highlighting the work of the OAS.
Dictatorships should not have a presence in the OAS
The academic and diplomat referred to the case of Nicaragua and Venezuela, whose seats are not occupied by the representatives of their respective regimes, after they resigned from the organization on November 19, 2021 and April 29, 2017, respectively.
Mora said that if the members of the OAS must be consistent with compliance with the Inter-American Democratic Charter: if this is so, this type of regime, like that of Cuba, should not have a presence in the organization.
“There is an obligation that if we are going to be consistent, commit to the OAS charter, if that is the reality, that is the commitment that we have that countries where these types of regimes exist should not have a presence in the OAS,” he added. .
“In the case of Venezuela, to be particular, the objective of those negotiations that are being carried out is the restoration of democracy after free and fair elections. When that happens, there is no reason to think that the next government, after those elections, can return with a representative, ”he said.
The situation in Nicaragua has been addressed in the regional organization that has demanded an end to the repression, the release of political prisoners, the cessation of attacks on the Catholic Church and has denounced the illegitimacy of the results of the November 2021 votesin which Ortega was re-elected after imprisoning all his possible competitors in an escalation of repression that left more than 40 detainees as of June of that year.
In response, the Ortega regime not only decided to start its withdrawal process from the OAS, which lasts two years, but also confiscated the organization’s headquarters at the end of April 2022. At a public level, the ruling party attacked the countries of the international community, arguing its sovereignty and self-determination and that it was the object of an alleged coup d’état in 2018. Isolated, the Nicaraguan dictatorship brought closer to China and Russia.
