OAS to discuss sentences of Nicaragua’s political prisoners

This Friday, February 18, the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States (OAS) will resume the debate on the crisis of political illegitimacy that encircles the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo, after the November 7 election fraud, held without political competition, transparency and in the midst of stepped-up repression.

OAS diplomatic sources told Confidencial that in this Friday’s discussion there will be no vote on a resolution on Nicaragua. However, there will be a series of interventions by the permanent representatives focused on the crisis that the country has experienced due to the political trials against prisoners of conscience and their convictions based on “ridiculous evidence” denounced by defense lawyers, legal experts and relatives. The “trials” are taking place at the El Chipote jail complex.

The statements of the OAS representatives will also address the plight of the relatives of the prisoners regarding the inhumane conditions in which they are held. Their concerns worsened as a result of the death of the former guerrilla, retired brigadier general and political prisoner Hugo Torres Jimenez, whose death occurred on February 12, after more than two months in which the regime kept his whereabouts and health condition hidden.

In addition to the representatives to the regional organization, statements are expected from Secretary General Luis Almagro and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, organization attached to the OAS.

Diplomatic sources also informed that after the statements, a declaration signed by several member States of the Permanent Council will be released, in a political reaction to the worsening of the Nicaraguan crisis.

On February 12, the OAS General Secretariat issued a communiqué condemning the prison conditions that aggravated the health situation of retired Brigadier General Hugo Torres, leading to his death.

“The OAS General Secretariat considers abominable that political prisoners with terminal illnesses are kept without the necessary medical assistance, violating their fundamental rights,” reads part of the communiqué.

On Tuesday, the Canadian Mission to the regional organization issued a verbal note informing about the request to hold a session on Friday with the purpose of addressing the situation in Nicaragua.

On behalf of the Permanent Missions of Antigua and Barbuda, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, the United States and Canada, “we respectfully request that an extraordinary session of the Council be held on the ‘The Situation of Nicaragua’ this coming Friday, February 18,” the note states.

The pro tempore presidency of the Permanent Council is currently held by the island of St. Kitts and Nevis, whose permanent representative is Warren Everson Alarick Hull. The Mission of Canada, together with Chile, are the coordinators of the OAS Working Group that deals with the Nicaraguan crisis.

First OAS session after the failure of Almagro’s efforts

This will be the first session of the OAS after the report of Secretary General Almagro on his failed efforts to agree with the Ortega regime the arrival in the country of a high-level mission of the regional body, which would negotiate the holding of the new elections in Nicaragua with transparency and credible national and international observation.

“Steps were taken at all levels. Communication was sent to Commander President Daniel Ortega himself, and institutional contacts were also made at the highest level of the Nicaraguan Foreign Ministry and its agencies. Consultations were also made through political channels at the highest level and through the General Secretariat. Likewise, through the Nicaraguan mission to the OAS,” Almagro reported at a meeting of the Permanent Council held on January 19.

“Of the steps taken, no approval has been received to send a good offices mission at the highest level; that is, no formal answer has been received in this regard,” the Uruguayan diplomat stressed.

Almagro’s efforts were a mandate established by a resolution of the Permanent Council approved on September 8, 2021, in which it was established to insist through diplomatic channels to agree with the Ortega regime on a solution to unblock the political crisis that plagues Nicaragua.

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