The president and his ministers are prohibited from entering the United States.
The President of Nicaragua Daniel Ortega, whom the United States prohibited from entering its territory on Tuesday, plans to withdraw his country from the OAS, after the General Assembly of the organization ignored the election where he obtained a fourth consecutive term, with his rivals imprisoned.
“The repression and abuses by the Ortega government and those who support him demand that the United States act,” US President Joe Biden said in Washington on Tuesday, announcing that both Ortega, his wife and Vice President Rosario Murillo, his ministers and several other officials cannot enter US territory.
The United States and the United Kingdom sanction Nicaragua for repression and irregularities in elections
These bans are in addition to a series of sanctions applied by Washington against officials and relatives of the Ortega Murillos in recent months.
Shortly before that announcement, the Nicaraguan Parliament, controlled by the ex-guerrilla ruling Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN, left), urged Ortega, “in his capacity as head of state (…) to denounce the Charter of the Organization of American States (OAS) ”.
The request was approved by 83 of 87 deputies. Reporting the Charter implies withdrawing from the body.
The declaration was adopted “in view of the repeated interventionist actions of the OAS in the internal affairs of Nicaragua,” said the head of the Legislature, Gustavo Porras, who asked the Executive to manage the removal of the organization through the established mechanisms.
The ruling FSLN controls the powers and institutions of the state.
Exit from the OAS
Article 143 of the OAS Charter allows a member state to resign by means of a notification, in a process that lasts two years.
Although Nicaragua’s exit from the inter-American system has yet to be approved by the president and notified to the OAS, the vice president and first lady have already welcomed the request.
“We are happy,” said Murillo. The congressional request “ratifies our demand to respect the sovereign and dignified decisions of our people and the principle of non-interference in our own affairs,” he added.
A similar process began Venezuela in 2017, after the OAS threatened it with a suspension for breaking the constitutional order. His departure took place in 2019, amid celebrations in Caracas.
OAS will evaluate the situation in Nicaragua until the end of the month to decide what actions to take
Ortega, a 76-year-old former guerrilla in power since 2007, He was re-elected on November 7 for a fourth consecutive term, in a process harshly questioned by the international community, since seven of his possible rivals were arrested months before the elections.
They are part of some 40 opponents apprehended during 2021, on charges of conspiracy and other crimes formulated by the Prosecutor’s Office at the request of the government, which accuses them of conspiring to overthrow Ortega with the support of Washington.
Thousands more have been in exile since 2018, after demonstrations against the government that left 355 dead, according to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).
Three opposition parties were also outlawed.
Elections ‘not fair’
Last Friday, the OAS General Assembly declared that the Nicaraguan elections “They were not free, fair, or transparent and they do not have democratic legitimacy”.
The resolution, approved by 25 of its 34 members, asks the Permanent Council of the organization to carry out an “immediate collective evaluation” no later than November 30, to take “appropriate actions.”
Among the instruments that the OAS could adopt against Nicaragua is the possibility of insisting with diplomatic efforts before the Ortega administration or suspending the country from the organization.
According to Nicaraguan legislators, affirming that the elections “lack democratic legitimacy are due to the interests of traitors to the homeland (opponents) and officials of the United States White House.”
Nicaraguan elections continue to cause controversy in the region
For the deputy of the indigenous party Brooklin Rivera, who abstained from voting, leaving the OAS “I do not think that is the feeling of the majority of Nicaraguans, rather it is the official party and the government. If it is necessary to go to that extreme, it would be necessary to hold a popular consultation ”.
For former diplomat Édgar Parrales, a Nicaraguan exit from the OAS will imply greater isolation and poverty.
Nicaragua would be “isolated, there will no longer be loans, cooperation, donations from the international financial community,” in addition to “more exodus of Nicaraguans,” he told AFP.
Before the elections, The OAS and several countries including the United States and the European Union (EU) demanded that Nicaragua release the imprisoned opponents and create conditions for the elections to be transparent, under threat of imposing more sanctions.
Ortega said on November 8 that the sanctions are an aggression “and a” tool to be harassing “his country. (I)
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