He called the government of Daniel Ortega being representative of Nicaragua before the OAS. Removed from office after the incident, the now former ambassador Arturo McFields reflects by telephone from the United States on the situation in his country.
In a March session of the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States (OAS), McFields denounced the lack of freedoms in Nicaragua, under the presidency since 2007 of former guerrilla Ortega and the vice-presidency of Rosario Murillo, his wife.
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On April 18, 2018, protests broke out against Ortega that lasted for several months. Repressed by the security forces, they left 355 reported deaths, dozens of prisoners and thousands of exiles, according to human rights organizations. It was the beginning of a political crisis that endures.
In November 2021, Ortega, 76, leader of the leftist Sandinista Front, won a fourth consecutive term, with his rivals and opponents detained – in “inhuman” conditions according to McFields – accused of plotting against the government.
Q:How are you Nicaragua four years after the protests?
A: While crime and drug trafficking are on the rise, the police are persecuting and harassing priests, journalists, singer-songwriters and the few remaining human rights defenders. It is an irrational question.
But every death has its resurrection and I believe that Nicaragua is going to have its Sunday of Glory.
Q: What do you think the government’s next steps will be?
A: That they dare to imprison religious leaders. That could be a new stage of repression. Last year the president said that in any other country the religious [críticos del gobierno] they would be imprisoned (…) He classified them as terrorists.
Q: Are you also saying this because of the expulsion of the apostolic nuncio in March?
A: This year the threats have continued and we know that later they materialize. I want to believe that there will be hope, people are tired of so much repressionthe same government officials, the police, the military.
Q: Do you see any collective demonstration?
A: That tiredness at some point is going to materialize in some way in a manifestation of something different. How do I know? I am living proof. I was inside and I got tired. I got tired of so much cruelty, so much mistreatment.
Repression is a boomerang. When you increase repression and cruelty, that strips you naked as a dictator, and now the rhetoric of the empire and the CIA and all those things that are usually said fall away and you show that you are a dictator without much charisma.
This exaggerated repression (…) is revealing how grotesque the dictatorship and the violence with which it acts can be.
Q: You spoke of discontent within the government. Who are you referring to?
The government does not allow people to reveal such categorical positions. I’m giving you the vibe of the environment and the interactions that you have at the senior level where you see the comments, you hear the reactions. One feels and says: I am not the only one.
The government manages to placate these disagreements with the three Ps: Prison, perquisites and persuasion.
Persuasion is not being used much, there are no perks because there is no Venezuelan cooperation, so what is used is prison. Officials have their passports taken away from them and this has been reinforced by what has happened in my case.
Q: Who is in the lead, Ortega or Murillo?
A: In everyday life, Rosario is the one that is most at the forefront. But when they are decisions of extreme importance, the president has the last word.
Q: For example, the decision to remove Nicaragua from the OAS (announced at the end of 2021)…
A: Those are decisions where he is consulted. But on a day-to-day basis, in my case my communication was direct with her [Murillo].
Q: What is your status in the United States?
We are in the transition to a nursing home. In my country I have been classified as a traitor to the country (…) and if I return a cell awaits me in El Chipote [prisión policial donde están recluidos opositores].
Q: What do you expect from the Joe Biden administration?
A: Please extend a temporary protected status for Nicaraguans who are fleeing. That allows them to earn an honest living, because the “migra” [autoridad migratoria] it can return them to a reign of terror. We have a situation of institutional catastrophe in Nicaragua. This is worse than a tsunami.
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