Nicaragua definitively left Organization of American States (OAS) at the culmination of an exit process that began two years ago, amid the sociopolitical crisis that erupted in the Central American country in April 2018.
she Sandinista government He submitted a formal request two years ago to leave the OASafter General Assembly of the Chancellors of that body will disqualify the elections in which President Daniel Ortega, in power since 2007, was re-elected for the fifth and fourth consecutive terms, with his main contenders in prison .
the 51st General Assembly of the OAS it was decided by the majority that the elections guaranteeing the permanence of Ortega in power, together with his wife, the Vice President Rosario Murillo”they are not free, fair or transparent and they have no democratic legitimacy.”
These elections, held on November 7, 2021, are mainly due to the absence of seven potential opposition presidential candidates who were imprisoned before the vote accused of “treason”, as well as for the removal of three which is the opposition party. , the withdrawal of election observation , differences in the level of participation, and a series of laws that restrict participation in the process.
Read more: Ortega will not escape justice despite Nicaragua’s withdrawal from the OAS, according to an NGO
In reaction, the Government of Nicaragua announced his resignation and separation from OASwhere he was one of the founding members in 1948.
The Nicaraguan Foreign Minister, Denis Moncadaexplained in a letter that according to article 67 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, he “officially announces our firm decision to denounce the OAS Charter, in accordance with its article 143, which begins with the definitive withdrawal and resignation of Nicaragua this organization.”
In the text of the complaint, Managua accused the OAS in failure to comply, irresponsible disregard and violation of its own Charter to respect the sovereign equality of States, non-interference in internal affairs and the non-imposition of unilateral, illegal and coercive measures.
He also accused the OAS of being designed as a diplomatic political forum “born under the influence of the United States as an instrument of interference and intervention, and its actions against Nicaragua show that this organization, which operates permanently in Washington, has mission to facilitate US hegemony with its interventionism in the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean”.
Since the popular demonstrations that broke out in April 2018 against the Ortega Government, and left at least 355 dead according to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), the OAS Permanent Council approved 12 resolutions on the situation in Nicaragua .
In these resolutions the OAS condemned the use of State force to neutralize the protests, and in seven of them it demanded the release of Ortega’s opponents and critics.
Four months after criticizing the OAS Charter, the Nicaraguan ambassador to that organization, Arturo McFields, rebelled against the Ortega Government in a harsh and unexpected statement in which he denounced the “dictatorship” of his country and demanded the release of political prisoners.
“I have to speak even if I’m scared, even if my future and that of my family is uncertain. I have to speak because if not, the stones themselves will speak for me,” said McFields, who said. he spoke “on behalf of more than 177 political prisoners and more than 350 people who lost their lives” in Nicaragua since 2018.
A day later Ortega officially fired his diplomatic representative who accused him of being a dictator of the OAS.
On April 24, 2022, the National Police forcefully occupied the offices rented by the OAS in Managua, and three days later the Government formalized the seizure of the building, where it was first announced that it would ” Museum of Infamy”.
On August 22 of that year, the Government, through the Attorney General’s Office, handed over the building to the state-run National Autonomous University of Nicaragua (UNAN), and on February 23, 2023, the study center was inaugurated there. “House of Father Miguel D’Escoto Brockmann Sovereignty”.
The Permanent Council of the OAS reminded President Ortega, on November 8, that he will continue to be obliged to respect human rights once the Central American country completes its departure from the organization.
