The General Assembly of the OAS stated, on November 12, that the elections held five days earlier in the country had “no democratic legitimacy”.
Le Monde with AFP
Nicaragua officially requested, Friday, November 19, out of the Organization of American States after Critics of the OAS on the “legitimacy” of the election of 7 November, which saw President Daniel Ortega re-elected for a fourth consecutive term.
“I am writing to you to officially notify you of our unforeseen decision to denounce the Charter of the OAS, in accordance with Article 143, which begins the final withdrawal and the resignation of the Nicaragua of this organization”, is it written in A letter signed by the Nicaraguan Foreign Minister, Denis Moncada, and addressed to the Secretary General of the OAS, Luis Almagro.
Article 143 of the OAS Charter allows a State to withdraw from the Organization at the end of a two-year procedure, during which the country must respect its obligations to the organization .
In this letter, a copy of which was sent to the media, the Minister of Foreign Affairs indicates to act on the instructions of President Ortega.
Serious damage
“We feel happy, proud because today we gave a new example of our sovereign people’s condition” by renouncing “this unacceptable and fallacious organization that does not represent us at all,” said the Vice President Rosario Murillo, wife of Daniel Ortega, to official media.
The Cuban Foreign Minister, Bruno Rodríguez has on his side halved on his account Twitter the decision of Nicaragua, “which constitutes a firm answer and worthy to the maneuvers of the Secretary-General of this organization, in collusion with the United States to try to interfere in the decisions which concern the Nicaraguan people “.
Daniel Ortega, in power since 2007 after ruled the country from 1979 to 1990, was re-elected on 7 November for a fourth consecutive presidential term. The ballot was the target of severe critics of the international community, particularly because of the absence of any serious opponent, seven potential candidates who were arrested during the six months before the election.
The relatives of the 39 opponents arrested before the ballot said on Friday in a statement that they suffered from serious “physical and psychological damage” because of their conditions of detention, in a high security prison in Managua. According to them, they continue to lose weight, lack “regular access to daylight”, some being locked in cells where the lights are lit permanently while others remain in the dim light.
The General Assembly of the OAS had declared on 12 November that the Nicaraguan elections “were neither free nor fair nor transparent and do not have democratic legitimacy”, paving the way for possible suspension Nicaragua.
Isolation
The exit of the OAS isolate even more Nicaragua, whose leaders are the subject of international sanctions. Access to the US territory is now prohibited to President Ortega, his wife and Vice President Rosario Murillo, their ministers and other senior regime officials.
On 16 November, the Parliament, where Daniel Ortega holds an overwhelming majority, had asked the Head of State to bring out his country from the OAS. The OAS’s withdrawal request followed “the repeated actions of OAS interference in Nicaragua’s internal affairs,” said Parliament President Gustavo Porras.
A similar process started in Venezuela in 2017, after the OAS threatened the country of suspension for violation of the constitutional order.