Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo, on June 14th in Managua (Nicaragua). JAIRO CAJINA (AFP)
The summit between the European Union and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac), convened for Monday and Tuesday in Brussels, will be a crucial event, not only to improve coordination between the two shores of the Atlantic or to define investment plans, but also to stimulate political debates and channel democratic demands. More than 150 victims of the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo call on leaders in Latin America, the EU and their member states to create “a ‘Group of Friends of the Nicaraguan People’, made up of governments from across the political spectrum”. to contribute to a democratic transition” in the Central American country.
The petition, to which EL PAÍS had access and which will be published this Friday, is signed by almost 30 national and international human rights organizations and describes the functions of the group. For example, “it should hold high-level meetings to devise, in consultation with Nicaraguan civil society organizations and other local actors, a strategy of peaceful, public and private, concerted action to secure the release of political prisoners, justice and reparations.” for the victims of repression and the holding of free and fair elections as soon as possible.”
Led by the writer and Cervantes Prize winner Sergio Ramírez, the writer Gioconda Belli, the journalist Carlos Fernando Chamorro, the opponents Félix Maradiaga or Juan Sebastián Chamorro or Dora María Téllez, former Commander Two of the Sandinista Revolution, the initiative is specifically aimed at the Chilean Foreign Minister Alberto van Klaveren. Gabriel Boric’s government has proved to be one of the most sensitive in the region in the face of the serious downward spiral of the Ortega y Murillo regime and one of the most vigorous in defending human rights. This is precisely the central purpose of the motion, which seeks “a multilateral, coordinated and high-level response to the grave human rights and humanitarian crisis the country is experiencing.”
Juanita Goebertus, Americas director at Human Rights Watch (HRW), one of the organizations supporting the petition, recalled that “the human rights crisis in Nicaragua requires a determined and sustained response from the democratic governments of Latin America and Europe.” “Latin American and European governments must come together to develop a common strategy to deal with the crisis in Nicaragua. The Nicaraguan people have no time to waste,” he stresses.
Amid increasing international isolation, the Sandinista apparatus has accelerated the political repression of all dissident voices. The letter mentions some of the most serious episodes. The latest is the attack on the Catholic Church, priests and prelates, including the Bishop of Matagalpa, Rolando Álvarez, who was sentenced to more than 26 years in prison by the Ortega judiciary and refused forced expulsion for the second time last week. “In recent years, few countries in the region have witnessed a human rights deterioration as serious as Nicaragua, including systematic attacks on the independent media, the dissolution of civil society and the consolidation of an authoritarian regime,” reads the document, also signed by Carlos S. Maldonado and Wilfredo Miranda, editors and collaborators of EL PAÍS.
While the Ortega government rejects any attempt at diplomatic mediation, the population has no horizon for change. A report by the United Nations Group of Experts on Human Rights in Nicaragua (GEDHN) concluded last March “that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the Nicaraguan authorities have committed crimes against humanity, including murder, detention, torture, Violence, Sexual Violence and Deportation.” and Persecution for Political Reasons”. In addition, the signatories recall that “international observers have not been allowed into the country since the government expelled the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in late 2018.”
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As a result, the last electoral processes were a farce. And according to calculations by Nicaraguan organizations, despite the exile of 222 arbitrarily detained opponents, which was completed last February, there are still 64 political prisoners. This attempt by the regime to get rid of unpleasant voices and reduce international pressure was followed by another coup: 317 critics had their citizenship revoked.
In this context, Ortega’s victims trust that the EU-Celac summit will be “an opportunity to discuss pressing human rights challenges in countries in Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, such as democratic backwardness, violence and insecurity, and human rights abuses.” Migrants and Asylum Seekers”. While welcoming statements by governments such as Chile or international bodies such as the European Service for Foreign Affairs, the signatories regret that the international response lacks “the necessary coordination and alignment to effectively adopt steps for the transition to an established democracy to contribute”. about freedom and human rights”. For this reason, the Brussels conclave is also proving to be an opportunity to promote the democratic transition in Nicaragua.
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