A group of 40 former Latin American foreign ministers demand the repetition of the elections in the country and that Daniel Ortega not be recognized as the winner of the elections
Forty former foreign ministers of Latin America asked the General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS), meeting this Wednesday, not to recognize the re-election for a fourth consecutive term of Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua, elections held with his rivals imprisoned, and to consider suspending the country from the bloc if there is no new call to the polls.
“If the Nicaraguan government does not accept to hold new free, transparent, fair elections,” together with “the release of all political prisoners, we call on the OAS General Assembly to convene a special period of sessions to approve the suspension of the State of Nicaragua »of the bloc, says the document, in application of the Democratic Charter. The petition is signed by the former foreign ministers of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, the Dominican Republic and Uruguay, grouped under the initiative of the NGO Idea International. “The OAS cannot recognize this electoral result or the authorities that emerge from that rigged vote,” adds the petition, dated Panama City.
The former foreign ministers also propose “a peaceful solution to the crisis through negotiation with all Nicaraguan political actors” and suggest to international financial organizations such as the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank or the Central American Bank, ” adjust their policy ”so that they suspend their loans to the Ortega government, as a form of sanction.
Ortega, a former guerrilla who turns 76 this Thursday, won the presidential elections last Sunday, along with his wife and vice president Rosario Murillo. According to official figures, they got 75.92% of the votes, without weight rivals. Since June, three opposition parties to Ortega have been outlawed and 39 social activists, politicians, businessmen and journalists have been detained, including seven presidential candidates, in addition to some 120 opponents who have remained in prison since 2018. Ortega accuses those recently detained of promoting sanctions. of “treason” of “money laundering” and of having wanted to overthrow him with the support of Washington, by virtue of laws passed at the end of 2020.
“If the member countries of the OAS do not condemn and act in accordance with the principles set forth in the Inter-American Democratic Charter, we run the risk of devaluing the full meaning of democracy (…) in the face of the emergence of totalitarian governments,” warned Daniel Zovatto, Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean of International IDEA.
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