It was approved with 25 votes. Eight countries abstained with the declaration, including Mexico, Argentina, Bolivia and Honduras.
The Organization of American States (OAS) approved this Wednesday a resolution to ask the Nicaraguan president, Daniel OrtegaThat allows a diplomatic mission to enter the Central American country to initiate a dialogue on electoral reforms and the calling of new elections.
The Resolution was approved with the vote in favor of 25 of the 34 active members of the OAS (Cuba belongs to the body, but has not participated in it since 1962), 8 countries abstained, including Mexico, Argentina, Bolivia and Honduras, while Nicaragua was the only one to vote against.
The initiative urges the Ortega government to “urgently and as a first measure” release all “political prisoners” and accept a high-level “good offices” mission that must be authorized by the Permanent Council of the organization. .
The mandate of the diplomatic mission will be to reach an agreement on how achieve three objectives, starting with a comprehensive electoral reform.
The second objective of the diplomatic mission will be repeal all laws that restrict political participation and limit human rights in Nicaragua.
OAS Secretary calls for renewed pressure on Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua
And the third will be initiate a dialogue with all political parties and other actors in Nicaragua with the objective of holding “early” presidential and parliamentary elections that are free, fair and transparent, with “credible” international observation.
Ortega won on November 7 in an election in which his political rivals did not participate Because, in the previous months, the authorities dissolved three political parties and arrested more than thirty opposition leaders, including seven presidential candidates, including Cristiana Chamorro.
In reaction, the OAS General Assembly, the organism’s most important political forum, approved a resolution in which it assured that these elections lacked “democratic legitimacy” and were neither free, nor fair, nor transparent.
Immediately afterwards, the Ortega government accused the OAS of “interference” and announced that it intended to leave the organization, for which the OAS Charter, its founding document signed in 1948, denounced.
According to the organization’s regulations, any country that denounces the OAS Charter has to wait two years for the withdrawal to become effective.
Democratic Charter
Beyond the diplomatic mission, the other key point of the resolution is that it resolves that “Nicaragua is not fulfilling the commitments assumed in the Inter-American Democratic Charter”, approved in 2001 to strengthen and preserve democracies in the American continent.
To “restore” compliance with the Inter-American Democratic Charter, the resolution asks the Secretary General of the OAS, Luis Almagro, to request “urgently” a meeting with the Government of Ortega to allow the diplomatic mission to enter the country.
Daniel Ortega accused of crimes against humanity in Nicaragua
Almagro must inform the OAS of his efforts no later than December 17, as established in the resolution.
The Democratic Charter is a legal instrument that, in its articles 20 and 21, contemplates diplomatic procedures against a member state where there is “an alteration of the constitutional order” and, if these efforts fail, it smoothes the process for its suspension, thereby leaving to participate in the agency’s programs.
To approve the suspension, the highest form of sanction that the OAS has, 24 votes are necessary, that is, two-thirds of the 34 countries that are active members of the organization.
In its 70-year history, the OAS has only suspended two states: Cuba and Honduras. (I)
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