Colombia requests International Criminal Court to act against Ortega

The Government of Colombia repudiated on Thursday “the dictatorial procedures” of the Government of Daniel Ortega, which withdrew the nationality of 317 citizens and still holds 35 political prisoners. It asked the International Criminal Court “to take action on such an alarming matter.”

“Colombia, which in recent decades has fought tirelessly to achieve peace, much more so now that it intends to be a world power of life, rejects the dictatorial methods of those who bring to mind the worst moments of the Somoza dictatorship, that Sandinistas managed to overcome”, lamented the Foreign Ministry of the Government of Gustavo Petro in a statement.

They express their “revulsion” at “the measures taken arbitrarily” by President Ortega against people “whose only crime has been to defend democracy, the right to criticism and universal human rights.”

“The authoritarianism that has been imposed on Nicaragua has infringed all norms. Those of which it have been (internationally) defined as prevailing, irrevocable, absolute, peremptory, and immutable in essence. Precisely those whose violations the International Criminal Court should know about”, added the Foreign Ministry.

A call for global action  

“Ortega exiled his fellow citizens in a surprising and inhumane way, some of whom are recognized for their struggles by the international community, all of this using vulgar police measures.” Colombia noted that the one person who refused to leave, Matagalpa Bishop Rolando Álvarez, was sentenced the following day to 26 years in prison after refusing to be banished from Nicaragua.

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“Colombia calls on the entire world to react.” For this reason, they demand that the president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Mirjana Spoljaric, request “authorization to visit those who are still detained.”

Regarding the prisoners of conscience, they mention that “they are victims” and “international humanitarian law covers them.”

The Petro Government indicated that it “seeks to get in touch with those who, having been abused by the intolerant power of Nicaragua, and would like to obtain Colombian nationality”, as already expressed with the writer Sergio Ramírez this week in Madrid.

This article was originally published in Spanish in Confidencial and translated by Havana Times