The OAS requested the release of imprisoned opponents in Nicaragua

( Spanish) — The General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS) demanded the release of detained Nicaraguan opponents and the end of the repression against leaders and leaders of the Catholic Church, in a new resolution on the “political crisis and human rights in Nicaragua “, approved this Friday.

In the first point of the document of the General Assembly, approved by acclamation, it is resolved “to urge the Government of Nicaragua to cease all violent action against the population of the country and to fully restore civic and political rights, religious freedoms and the Rule of law; to end judicial, administrative and other types of intimidation and harassment against journalists, especially women, and against media outlets and non-governmental organizations.”

According to the count of national media, such as Confidencial and the newspaper La Prensa, more than 2,000 civil society organizations have been canceled in the country alleging non-compliance with regulations, and 54 independent media outlets have been closed during the last four years. .

The member states of the OAS demand that the Government of Nicaragua “release all political prisoners, in compliance with the decisions and recommendations of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.”

According to the resolution, the “worsening of economic and political conditions has pushed some 250,000 Nicaraguans to flee the country since 2018.”

The OAS General Assembly invited the member states to create a high-level commission with the mandate “to offer the Government of Nicaragua the opportunity to discuss all pertinent issues.”

The Government of Nicaragua has not officially reacted to this latest resolution and the country’s delegation was not present at the 52nd General Assembly of the hemispheric organization, held this week in Lima.

Nicaragua denounced the letter from the Organization of American States in November 2021 alleging that the organization intervened in the internal affairs of the country and violated national sovereignty. Nicaragua’s exit process from the OAS officially concludes in November 2023.

In 2019, the OAS had created a high-level commission that would help find a way out of the sociopolitical crisis that the country had been experiencing since 2018.

The Government of Nicaragua rejected the commission and did not allow its entry into the country. The commission met in El Salvador with several Nicaraguan sectors.

For its part, the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (Cenidh) valued the resolution as “a contribution to the struggle that must continue, until Nicaragua is a free and democratic country. The State of Nicaragua has the duty to fulfill its international commitments and the demands expressed in this resolution,” said the human rights organization.