Former presidents call on OAS to take more effective action against Ortega’s regime

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – A score of former Spanish and Latin American governors urged the Organization of American States (OAS) on Friday to deploy “more effective actions” to stop the persecution and prosecution of those who oppose the “dictatorial regime” in Nicaragua.

The former heads of state and government participating in the Democratic Initiative of Spain and the Americas (IDEA) also pointed out in a declaration that “democratic governments cannot remain indifferent to the dire situation” Nicaragua is going through.

Read also: Check out our coverage on Nicaragua

And they recalled that on June 4, they noted “the open disregard by the Nicaraguan dictatorship” of the recommendations of the OAS, the United Nations, and the European Union for the elections next November to be democratic.

“Twenty-nine opposition members have already been detained and thus disqualified by the dictatorship from participating in the planned elections”, they point out.

That is in addition to the “burdensome background” of the 328 fatalities left by the repression unleashed by the “dictatorship” of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo against the participants in the 2018 demonstrations, as confirmed by human rights organizations, they add.

The former governors refer to former Foreign Minister Francisco Aguirre Sacasa and the prosecution for treason of Berta Valle and Victoria Cardenas, wives of Felix Maradiaga and Juan Sebastian Chamorro, two imprisoned political leaders, to denounce the “pattern of systematic rights violations” by the regime.

They also point out that the government of Daniel Ortega has ordered the elimination of 24 non-governmental organizations, fifteen of which are engaged in defending “the right to health of Nicaraguans during the covid-19 pandemic”.

Finally, they remind democratic governments that they should not ignore the “mechanisms for the defense of democracy legitimately provided by international law”.

To the multilateral organizations, they point out that “they must bear in mind the obligations of prevention imposed by their statutes, in the face of situations that could turn into humanitarian tragedies”.

Signing the declaration are José María Aznar (Spain), Óscar Arias, Rafael Ángel Calderón, Miguel Ángel Rodríguez and Luis Guillermo Solís (Costa Rica), Nicolás Ardito Barletta and Mireya Moscoso (Panama), Felipe Calderón and Vicente Fox (Mexico), Alfredo Cristiani (El Salvador) and Federico Franco and Juan Carlos Wasmosy (Paraguay).

Also Eduardo Frei (Chile), César Gaviria, Andrés Pastrana and Álvaro Uribe (Colombia), Osvaldo Hurtado and Jamil Mahuad (Ecuador), Luis Alberto Lacalle (Uruguay), Mauricio Macri (Argentina) and Jorge Tuto Quiroga (Bolivia).

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