The Organization of American States (OAS) adopted a resolution this Friday (12) in which it describes the recent elections in Nicaragua, which ensured another term for dictator Daniel Ortega, as without democratic legitimacy. Brazil was one of the 25 member states that voted in favor of the text.
There were also seven abstentions from deliberation at the OAS Permanent Council, from countries such as Mexico, Bolivia and Honduras. The only vote against was Nicaragua itself. Along with Brazil, representatives of countries like the United States, Venezuela, Argentina and Ecuador supported the resolution.
Among other points, the text affirms that the democratic institutions of the Central American country were seriously harmed by the Ortega regime, in power uninterruptedly since 2007. The release of the arrested candidates and the end of the persecution of independent media are some of the appeals made in the document.
Ortega was re-elected on Sunday (8), in a front-line election, which did not include the dispute of real opponents to the regime. Official figures claim he received 76% of the vote. A former Sandinista, the dictator was at the forefront of the movement that overthrew the dictatorship of Anastasio Somoza in 1979. After assuming the presidency in 2007, however, he began an authoritarian shift that was rejected even by former allies.
In the resolution, the OAS Permanent Council also deliberated on the need for an immediate assessment of the Nicaraguan situation, to be completed by the end of November, in order to “take appropriate action” – but did not go into detail.
Among the arguments listed in the text, the collegiate mentions a recent report released by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), an arm of the OAS. The document concludes that, since the election of Ortega in 2007, a police state has been established in Nicaragua “in which the Executive has instituted a regime of terror and suppression of all freedoms through the control and surveillance of the citizenry and repression “.
The process would have been possible through measures to allow presidential re-election and the support of institutions such as the General Assembly and the Judiciary, occupied by people who were nominated because they are allies of the ruling party, the text of the IACHR states.
About this year’s elections, the document, published in October, anticipated that corruption, electoral fraud and structural impunity for those who commit human rights violations would impede the realization of a democratic election and could even be classified as crimes against humanity . Seven opposition candidates were arrested over the past few months so they could not run in the election race.
In 2018, the year in which the regime’s repression left more than 300 dead in the country and hundreds wounded, the OAS condemned the violence of r Ortega in a resolution also approved by the Permanent Council. Months later, an IACHR mission in the country, which had been monitoring human rights violations, was expelled.
Nicaragua’s OAS representative, Michael Campbell, said Friday’s resolution is “another attack on the free and sovereign people that will go down in history as one of the worst aggressions against democracy.”
Luz Elena Baños, representative of Mexico, one of the states that abstained, said the country is concerned about the Nicaraguan political process, in particular with regard to freedom of expression, but that it will not vote on any measure “destined to intervene, isolate or impose sanctions on Nicaragua”.
The country led by Ortega is the target of US sanctions, established by former President Donald Trump and maintained by Democrat Joe Biden. Last Sunday’s elections were criticized by the White House and also by the European Union (EU), which called the regime autocratic.
The US celebrates the resolution. Bradley Freden, Washington’s representative to the Permanent Council, said the Ortega regime parallels the Somoza dictatorship. In a statement on the website of the US mission to the OAS, Freden said that, until democracy is restored in the country, “the US will use all diplomatic and economic instruments at its disposal to support the people of Nicaragua and hold the Ortega regime accountable.”
.
