The former Nicaraguan ambassador to the Organization of American States (OAS), Arthur McFieldscataloged as a measure of “desperation” the fact that the government of President Daniel Ortega decided to close the office of the regional organization in Managua and send police officers to the place.
In an interview with the voice of americaMcFields, who until March represented the Nicaraguan government in the OAS, affirmed that the actions led by Ortega constitute an “unprecedented event.”
“Not only do they withdraw or flee from the OAS, but they close the OAS offices in Managua. For the first time in history we are seeing these levels of desperation,” said the diplomat, reiterating that what has happened is “a moral victory for the more than 180 political prisoners who are in jail” in the Central American nation for opposing the current government.
The Ortega government announced the withdrawal of its diplomats at the OAS on Sunday, however, until this Monday the cancellations of these had not been published in the official newspaper The Gazette.
Even so, McFieldfs considers that no diplomat has “moral authority” to be in a “forum in which the democracies of the Americas meet.”
“We believe that the speech we gave at the OAS was not in vain. There is hope for Nicaragua, my people will see better days,” added Mcfields, who denounced the Ortega government on March 23.
In the first days of May, after the denunciations and dismissal of McFields, the person chosen to represent Nicaragua in the OAS presented his credentials before the organization. At its premiere, the diplomat Orlando Tardencilla criticized the organization in a letter and called it “a sad instrument of aggression by the United States Government.”
Tardencilla is a former Sandinista guerrilla. He was a deputy before the Central American Parliament (Parlacen) and was later appointed as ambassador to the United Nations (UN) in December 2021.
Nicaragua had started in the process to disassociate itself from the OAS in November 2021, after the organization issued a statement, supported by several of its member states, where they affirmed that the November 7 elections they were neither fair nor free.
The process to withdraw from the organization lasts 24 months, according to its statutes.
How to explain the reasons of the Ortega government and its actions regarding the OAS?
Several analysts consulted by the voice of america They differ in their analysis of the reasons that led the Ortega government to make the decision to abruptly cut off its relationship with the OAS.
According to the analysis of the former Costa Rican ambassador to Venezuela, Ricardo Lizano Calzada, Nicaragua’s response is due, in his opinion, to the OAS’s willingness to withdraw Russia’s observer status from the permanent council.
“Given the close relationship that exists between Russia and Nicaragua, it is very feasible to think that this is the fundamental reason, to look good with Russia. I don’t think there is a precedent in that sense. I do not see any country having reached the arbitrariness of taking the facilities that belong to the OAS, not to Nicaragua,” Lizano explained to the VOA during a telephone interview.
Lizano points out that in terms of human rights, there can be no more involvement because in his opinion “Nicaragua has been violating human rights for a long time and there is no action on the part of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights or the Commission, because they do not can act in a country where the action of these organizations is allowed and that disrespects the rights of citizens and particularly of all those who exercise some form of opposition”
For his part, the Nicaraguan analyst and economist Enrique Sáez believes that Ortega’s actions “is one more bravado by Ortega.”
“They speak of peace and have no qualms about supporting Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine. They speak of sovereignty and have no qualms about backing Putin’s claims to crush the sovereign deeds of the Ukrainian people. The same in this case of the OAS, they are the same ones who received with joy when Secretary General Luis Almagro came, they are the same ones who signed memoranda of understanding, agreements with the General Secretariat. Surely they received some blow and they are recovering in health”, considers Sáenz.
The opponent, who is in exile in Costa Rica, considers that Oterga and his wife Rosario Murillo could be reacting to the fact that they are not invited to the Summit of the Americas, in June in Los Angeles.
“As surely he has not been invited, he goes out with these tantrums anticipating the news in such a way that, when it is known and confirmed that he was not invited, he has already appeared disqualifying that participation. These are Ortega’s usual maneuvers, we should be used to it by now and what we should do is learn to get out of his way,” said Sáenz.
The Nicaraguan Vice President, Rosario Murillo, in her speech at the official media on Monday, he ratified his government’s decision to close the OAS headquarters in Managua and to cancel the credentials of its representatives in the body.
“In this Nicaragua, it does not admit harassment from any empire or any imperial instrument, this Nicaragua that fills us all with pride, because we have character, identity, we are a brave, vibrant, haughty people,” Murillo said.
For his part, Foreign Minister Denis Moncada assured in an official channel that the measure is given as a way to stop “the process of intervention and interference by the United States.”
“The United States designed its policies of intervention, interference and domination for Latin America and the Caribbean, for the entire world also from the Monroe Doctrine in 1823 and that is the sustenance and the diplomatic, economic and military political base to fulfill its domain objective, precisely in Latin America and the Caribbean”, Moncada pointed out.
In this regard, former Ambassador Calzada believes that the United States should take action, although he considers that the Nicaraguan rulers “hope that now mainland China, communist China, will come to their aid, but we are in a very complex international situation,” he concluded.
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