The denunciation of the consolidation of “an authoritarian regime” in Nicaragua, the massive closure of civil society organizations, the demand for the release of political prisoners and the reestablishment of public liberties, will be topics on the agenda that will have a large opposition group to the Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles.
The main opposition blocs in Nicaragua confirmed to the voice of america their attendance at this important forum and expressed that they will “make visible” their existence, despite the fact that in Managua the government of President Daniel Ortega has tried to silence them with jail.
Although the opponents will not be in the main forum together with the leaders, they will participate in the side panels and simultaneous to the Summit, explained the opposition Julio Ricardo Hernández, member of the Green Space organization.
Nathalie Román, 22, who belongs to the Student Movement in Support of Democracy, comments that she will be present at the Youth Forum of the Summit and will expose the problem of corruption in Nicaragua.
He expresses that it will be a space in which he can connect with the youth, which in Nicaragua have been silenced after “co-opting the universities” and main centers of thought.
“We see realities of how state universities have been co-opted by the government and we have seen the closure of private universities and the closure of NGOs, which were a main support for youth in Nicaragua,” the young woman stressed to the VOA via telephone.
Román affirms that participating in the forum generates expectations because they are important spaces in “decision making” and “in one way or another they transfer the demands or needs of Nicaraguan civil society to large spaces such as the OAS.”
On the other hand, the young university student Enrique Martínez, who will participate virtually in a Summit forum, emphasizes that within the lines of exposure on the panels, he will be the main complaint against “the serious violations of human rights that are experienced in Nicaragua. ”, as well as the situation of freedom of expression and freedom of the press.
Similarly “the extremely poor situation of political prisoners and the serious situation in the current context of cancellations of legal status that worked in social and educational development.”
“Those will be the discursive lines. After that, it is important to adapt to issues related to the Summit”, he added.
Julio Ricardo Hernández, from the Espacio Verde organization, also considers the representation of the opposition to Ortega to be important, because he emphasizes that there is some fear that the word Nicaragua will not even appear in the final declaration due to the position that some countries such as Mexico, Chile and Honduras.
“There are countries that do not sympathize with Ortega, but are not on the side of the North American policy of isolation, so, to achieve broad consensus, it is possible that Nicaragua will not be included in the declaration. However, there are other spaces where we want to raise our voice.”
Hernández underlines that different governments will be urged “to take action on the matter to achieve a solution to the crisis” in Managua “and start first with the release of political prisoners and restoration of the freedoms that we do not have in Nicaragua.” .
Finally, he considers it important “that it be felt throughout the Americas that the Nicaraguan opposition is alive, despite the fact that it has been beaten and exiled.”
“We have to stick our cry as far as possible. We Nicaraguans will shout from all sides: more international pressure against Ortega and it is important that they do so from their organizations because they are stripped of their legal status,” he concludes.
No entourage will go from the administration of President Ortega, according to the president himself in a public speech in which he tried to minimize the Summit of the Americas, which he called “a colony of the United States.”
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