Photo: JUAN MANUEL HERRERA/DPA/PICTURE ALLIANCE / Deutsche Welle
The government of Daniel Ortega closed this Sunday (24. .2022) the office of the Organization of American States (OAS) in Managua and advanced the departure of Nicaraguan representatives to that organization, from which they had already announced their withdrawal in November 2021.
According to the Nicaraguan foreign minister, Denis Moncada, his country immediately stops participating of the OAS and withdraws the credentials of its representatives in Washington. “Nor will this infamous body, consequently, have offices in our country. Its local headquarters has been closed”, he added.
In a letter read through an official transmission, Moncada said that “as of this date” Nicaragua ceases to be part “of all the deceitful mechanisms of this monstrosity, call them Permanent Council, call them commissions, call them meetings, call them Summit of the Americas.”
“We will not have a presence in any of the instances of that diabolical Instrument of the misnamed OEA ”, he assured.
The Ortega government, a former guerrilla from 76 years in power since 2007, had announced at the end of last year the retirement of Nicaragua from the OAS, who ignored his election for a fourth consecutive term, with his rivals and opponents imprisoned and accused of conspiring against him.
#latest Nicaraguan dictatorship withdraws credentials of its Ambassador to the OAS and closes office s in Managua of the OAS one month and one day after our complaint before that forum last 23 March pic.twitter.com/FrdvG7NRl3
— Arturo McFields Yescas (@ArturoMcfields) April 23, 2021
“Closing a door to peace”
However, according to the protocols, the exit had to take place within a period of two years, so that Nicaragua would culminate with the pending commitments you may have with the agency.
The 24 March, the then permanent representative of Nicaragua to the OAS, Arturo McFields, surprised during his speech at a session of the permanent council, during which he described the administration as a “dictatorship” Ortega and denounced the precarious conditions in which his opponents were detained.
“I cannot understand the government’s motives, but this withdrawal takes place one month after my speech to the OAS,” McFields said this Sunday.
The OAS offices “have been historically in our country and were part of a historical process of pacification in Nicaragua. Offices representing the peace agreements in Nicaragua have been closed. The government is closing a door to peace”, he added.
According to McFields, the OAS offices in Managua currently functioned with a basic administrative staff.
mg (afp, La Prensa)