OAS calls for an end to impunity in Nicaragua

The Nicaraguan Democratic Concertation CDN-Monteverde celebrates the approval of the resolution of the General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS), held in Asuncion Paraguay from June 26 to 28, in which 32 member countries unanimously called for the end of the repression and political persecution, and the release of all persons who are imprisoned for political reasons. In addition, for the first time, the organization advocated that the human rights violations and crimes against humanity committed by the Ortega-Murillo regime and its accomplices in the context of social protests should not go unpunished.

The decision of the organization reminds its member countries that they are obliged to establish individual and collective guarantees in favor of the reestablishment of democracy and freedom in Nicaragua, demonstrating that the efforts of the Ortega-Murillo regime to disassociate itself from the organization, renouncing it to evade its commitments to international justice, were unsuccessful.

Seven months after its official departure from the OAS, the Nicaraguan crisis and the urgent need to find a civic and peaceful solution that would allow it to return to the path of democracy was more present than ever on the agenda of the General Assembly.

In its resolution, the OAS expresses to the Nicaraguan rulers that it is alarmed by their permanent disregard of the decisions issued by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) to protect organizations and individuals who are persecuted and deprived of their rights and others who remain in prison for political reasons and whose rights are disrespected.

Furthermore, six years after the outbreak of the socio-political crisis, the OAS introduced the issue of impunity in its resolution for the first time. The unanimous ratification by the member countries that those guilty of crimes against humanity committed during the social protests must pay for them is a triumph for the victims, their families, and the country.

We recognize that this new international condemnation, which has now been made unanimously, is the result of the work of many people, including the support of the representatives of the member countries and especially that of the members of the Group of Volunteer Countries for Nicaragua, with whom we have worked in recent months, and will continue to do so in the future.

Through this joint work with the Group of Volunteer Countries for Nicaragua, we will keep the international community informed of the abuses that the Ortega Murillo regime continues to commit against all organizations and individuals it considers a threat to its authoritarian model. We will also continue to seek a civic and peaceful solution that will bring about the full release of all those imprisoned for political reasons, the return of Nicaragua to the path of democracy, and ensure that the crimes committed do not go unpunished.

The CDN-Monteverde is grateful for the support of each of those who made the forcefulness of this resolution possible. We ask for your cooperation in taking the next step, which is to ensure that the states of the hemisphere take the individual or collective actions called for in the resolution to guarantee the halt of human rights violations, ideological persecution, and the reestablishment of institutions and the rule of law.

The CDN-Monteverde knows that it is a difficult task, but not impossible, and that with the support of the international community, it will be easier to achieve.