Arturo McFields Yescas, until this Wednesday representative of Nicaragua in the Organization of American States (OAS), looks tired. In an interview with the voice of america He comments that having made the decision to publicly denounce the government of President Daniel Ortega for human rights violations, precisely in the forum where months ago he denied what happened in the Central American country, was not so easy.
As a result, he has gone through multiple calls, from diplomats to journalists. Some congratulate him on his decision, but others question it, he says.
“It’s something very complex and it doesn’t happen overnight,” the former diplomat tells VOA.
To make that decision, according to him, he based himself on internal consultations with his family but also on media reports that reported how the situation in Nicaragua was getting worse.
Watch the full video of the interview:
“Each situation, each moment in which a new person fell prey and in which we watched how things, instead of improving, were getting worse,” he says, made him reflect.
Before, McFields mentions, there was an alliance between the government, businessmen, workers and “there was a great dialogue; At least in economic matters, the investments were looked at, but suddenly, the very president of the businessmen of my country is in a prison, suffering, abandoned, sick, injured because they have no right to go out in the sun, to receive visits with a certain frequency.
Arturo McFields, a journalist by training, was appointed in October 2021 as ambassador to the OAS. His appointment came three years after the sociopolitical crisis began in the Central American country that left more than 300 dead.
The arrests were at their peak after his appointment, but little by little, he assures, there was a break and he affirms that he could no longer continue supporting the official discourse, especially when hearing complaints about how the opposition prisoner Tamara Dávilaarrested in 2021, has not been able to see her 5-year-old daughter since her arrest.
There are people who have lost their mother and they couldn’t even bury her.”
“That story was the one that broke me down and made me cry, because I have a 5-year-old daughter and I can hug her, kiss her and pray with her, and Tamara can’t do it. That is not right. Who is the government to take away that right from a mother? That cannot be justified by human or divine laws. That has no justification. Or how the journalist Miguel Mora cannot see his son, who has a mental disability and who had even given him covid and could not see his father afterwards, he could not know how his son was, ”he said. question.
“There are people who have lost their mother and they couldn’t even bury her, they couldn’t say their last goodbye. Those things already go beyond diplomacy or ideology; that has to do with humanity,” she adds.
government contradicts itself
The reaction of the ruling party was first denial, by issuing a letter through the Foreign Ministry in which it argued that the diplomat was not a representative of Nicaragua in the forum, but really Until this Thursday he was not dismissed officially, according to reported the official newspaper The Gazette.
His position will now be occupied by Francisco Campbell Hooker.
Daniel Ortega and his wife, Rosario Murillo, president and vice president of Nicaragua, respectively, have chosen to remain silent for the time being.
Others, although they have not directly mentioned the former Nicaraguan official, have clearly charged against McFields.
“Traitors always sell out, they always bite the hand that fed them and fill their mouths with lies and slander”, He has written on his Facebook account the pro-government deputy Carlos Emilio López, hours after McFields’ complaint.
McFields for his part comments to VOA that, although there has been no approach or direct insult from the government against him, he received a call from Vice President Rosario Murillo, the second in command in Nicaragua and whom Ortega calls “the co-president.”
“Rosary beads [Murillo] an attempt was made to communicate with me yesterday. She called me but I had already made up my mind and I wasn’t going to go back, so I didn’t pick up the phone,” she says.
A radical change
McFields’ stance, although not the first, is surprising due to the abrupt change in discourse. In previous sessions at the OAS, the diplomat defended the Ortega government and said, for example, that the elections on November 7 were held without any impediments, despite the imprisonment of the candidates presidential.
“We are forced to pretend, we are forced to fill vacancies, we are forced to repeat slogans, but our principles and values cannot be changed” and that is why, yesterday, I said ‘enough’ and many officials are going to say ‘ enough’, and I hope they do it out loud and don’t go quietly because great government officials have gone and they have gone quietly, ”says McFields.
The former diplomat reveals to VOA that great government officials have resigned, but they do not raise their voices because they know that raising their voices has a price. He considers it a mistake.
“Those who remain silent today will regret it because they will fall into oblivion in history, or they will simply be remembered as the true traitors to the country,” he adds.
McFields’ complaint was echoed internationally. The US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, issued a statement on Twitter supporting the complaint he had made. Similarly, other diplomats did it on social networks, including an MEP.
Finally, the former diplomat asserts that he will request political asylum, although he does not mention where he will do it.
“For security reasons I cannot give you much information and also because they are family decisions, but I can tell you that the Ecuadorian government has offered me asylum and I am very grateful for the proposal.”
Connect with the Voice of America! Subscribe to our channel Youtube and turn on notifications, or follow us on social media: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
