Washington.-the 12 countries of the Working Group for Nicaragua of the Organization of American States (OAS) on Friday asked Nicaraguan President, Daniel Ortega, to release “all” the prisoners protesters in compliance with what was agreed in the dialogue with the opposition.
All agreements must meet imminently in #Nicaragua: release of political prisoners; return of exiled Nicaraguans; electoral reforms; return #MESENI of the @CIDH; Restore fundamental freedoms, including expression and protest. pic.twitter.com/WorUK1GU0W – Luis Almagro (@Almagro_OEA2015)
April 26, 2019
The Working Group – made up of Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, USA, Guyana, Mexico, Panama and Peru – made that request during a special meeting of the Permanent Council of the OAS to consider the situation in the Central American country. In a document submitted to the Council, 12 countries urged the Government of Ortega and the opposition civic Alliance to fulfil the commitments made in the dialogue, which was suspended on 3 April and that the General Secretariat of the OAS led by Luis Almagro, and the Vatican they act as guarantors and witnesses. In particular, the 12 countries call for the liberation of all the people who have been imprisoned since April of 2018 burst protests against Ortega, who have left 325 dead and 2,000 wounded, according to figures from the Inter-American Commission on human rights (IACHR) ).
Ortega also demanded to allow the entry into Nicaragua of the IACHR, which played a very important role in the crisis with its support to early attempts at dialogue and, later, through the documentation of human rights violations. On the other hand, the 12 countries requested that “a process is launched to strengthen the electoral system” and “stop the repression, including respect for freedom of expression and the right to peaceful protest”. The Permanent Council of the OAS initiated the application of the Charter to Nicaragua on January 11, but since then no specific initiative has been taken to move forward in this process. According to diplomatic sources said to Efe, the document today Friday seeks to increase pressure on Ortega so that it complies with what is agreed in the framework of the dialogue and also paves the way to continue the process of implementation of the Democratic Charter, which could lead to the suspension of Nicaragua.En its 70 years of history, the OAS has only suspended two States (Cuba and Honduras); While in the General Assembly of last year gave a first step to start this process with Venezuela.
Original source in Spanish
