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The head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell assured that he hopes that the community bloc will exert pressure on the Government of the President of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega, before the presidential elections on November 7. His statements came in the middle of the meeting of the EU foreign ministers on October 18, after a presidential campaign in the Central American country marked by the numerous arrests of candidates and opponents.
The high representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell, described the political situation in Nicaragua as “very disastrous,” for which he urged action.
Borrell pointed out that the repression in Nicaragua is “unacceptable” and stressed that the presidential elections on November 7 are organized by “one of the worst dictatorships in the world.” That is why he considered that this electoral process will be “false.”
“I hope to put more pressure on the regime,” added the official after the meeting on Nicaragua, convened by the Spanish government, this Monday, October 18 in Luxembourg.
The 27 countries have come together amid concerns about the wave of arrests against opposition leaders and presidential candidates who are trying to challenge the re-election intentions of President Daniel Ortega.
Josep Borrell said that the repression in Nicaragua is “unacceptable” and that Daniel Ortega’s regime is “one of the worst dictatorships in the world.” https://t.co/Kw3E9ae7ab
– LA PRENSA Nicaragua (@laprensa) October 18, 2021
Since last May, the Nicaraguan authorities have detained various public figures who expressed their disagreement with the head of state, including figures who fought alongside him in the country’s 1979 revolution.
“We have a clear idea of what is going to happen. Basically, the opposition will not be allowed to participate in the elections and it is clear that everything is being prepared for elections that will be neither free nor democratic,” added an EU source. , in support of Borrell’s statements.
Civil organizations maintain that there are at least 155 political prisoners. His relatives have even denounced “mistreatment and torture” in prison. However, Daniel Ortega justifies the arrests and demands that there be no foreign interference.
The European Union proposes to ignore the results of the Nicaraguan elections
Although it is not the first time that the government of Daniel Ortega has ordered arrests with political overtones, the recent arrests are seen inside and outside the country as an unprecedented wave.
The main Nicaraguan opposition coalitions indicated in recent days that the president’s actions have “ended any trace of real electoral competition” in the November 7 elections, in which the president is seeking a fourth consecutive term.
Faced with a situation in which there is “a clear authoritarian turn of the Ortega regime”, “there will probably be a refusal to recognize the result” of the elections, because it will not represent the opinion of Nicaraguans, they assured.
Against this background, Ortega officially opened his electoral campaign at the beginning of this month. Most of his rivals, meanwhile, are in jail, mainly on charges of “treason.”
Meanwhile, relatives of inmates say they have only been allowed to visit loved ones twice in four months and that many have been subjected to humiliating searches when trying to enter prisons.
They also denounce that the detainees have been denied the right to see their lawyers and that they have been interrogated without the presence of their defenders.
Some 140,000 Nicaraguans have had to flee their country since the government cracked down on widespread protests against them, which began in 2018.
With EFE and AP
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