(México City) The Nicaraguan government said Sunday it was closing the Nicaraguan offices of the Organization of American States (OAS) and expelling staff.
Posted at 9:54 p.m.
This announcement is the latest in a series of dozens of expulsions or imprisonments carried out by the government of President Daniel Ortega. In March, Nicaragua suffered humiliating criticism from the country’s own ambassador to the OAS.
Mr. Ortega was elected to a fourth consecutive term in elections on November 7 that have been widely denounced as a farce. Seven likely rivals to President Ortega had been arrested and imprisoned in the months before the election.
The OAS General Assembly voted to condemn the elections, saying they “were not free, fair or transparent and lacked democratic legitimacy”.
In November, Nicaraguan Foreign Minister Denis Moncada announced that the Central American nation would withdraw from the OAS, complaining about what he called its “repeated acts of interference” in Nicaragua.
On Sunday, Mr. Moncada accused the OAS of being a “diabolical instrument” of “intervention and domination” by the United States.
“In the face of this earthy, calamitous and lying agency of the State Department of Yankee imperialism, we also announce that from this day forward we leave all the deceptive mechanisms of this monster, be it the permanent commission, the commissions, meetings, and the Summit of the Americas,” the government said in a statement.
In March, Nicaragua’s ambassador to the OAS, Arturo McFields, denounced his own government as a “dictatorship”.
Mr. McFields raised a point of order during an OAS online meeting to discuss unrelated matters and began speaking on behalf of “over 177 political prisoners and over 350 people who have lost their living in my country since 2018”.
“Speaking out against my country’s dictatorship is not easy, but to be silent and defend what is indefensible is impossible,” said McFields, who had previously defended Ortega’s government when criticized by critics. members of the OAS.
Ortega’s government then released a statement saying Mr. McFields “does not represent us, so none of his statements are valid.” On Thursday, the Nicaraguan government said his appointment was “no longer in effect”.