Ortega Agrees to Negotiate with the Civic Alliance

The resumption of the national dialogue between the Civic Alliance for Justice and Democracy and the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega will have its first session on Wednesday, February 27, behind closed doors. The dictator said that there will be no live broadcast, nor will there be a multitude and the media will not be able to be present during the negotiation sessions.

During a speech on Thursday, Ortega did not recognize the repression unleashed nor the 325 murdered by his dictatorship, nor the censorship of the media, the persecution of the citizens who participated in the peaceful protests, and he did not say a single word about the more than 700 political prisoners detained in different prisons and police stations throughout the country.

The dictator did not even say a single word about the release of political prisoners, which is one of the requirements demanded by civil society prior to any negotiation with the government.

“We are making efforts so that this table could be installed by next Wednesday, on the 27th (of February), now not with a multitude, nor with the media, that is not correct in a negotiation,” Ortega told his supporters during an event commemorating the 85th anniversary of the killing of General Augusto C. Sandino, held at the Olof Palme Convention Center.

The Nicaragua President said that during the negotiation carried out last year a “Guinness record was broken,” because it was the only multitudinous dialogue table, “broadcasted live and in full color.” The dictator said that all successful negotiations have gone through totally private processes and “have lasted weeks, months and sometimes years.”

“This is the way to peace, negotiation with the greatest earnest, responsibility. We are assuming this commitment with our people, that in this meeting and this negotiation that we hope will begin on Wednesday, be full of good will, of commitment, so that we give our people what they deserve, which is peace with justice and dignity,” said Ortega.

History according to Ortega

Ortega confirmed that it was his government that called on Saturday, February 16, a meeting with businessmen of the “big capital,” to talk about stability, security, peace and the economic crisis. He said that these asked to be accompanied by Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes and the Apostolic Nuncio, so that “people would not go on to say out there that they had come to look for their [FSLN] militant card.”

“The business leaders had been working from 2008 to April 2018 without any political conditioning, that’s to say, it was not a political alliance [with the government]. They understood that it was essential, given the conditions of underdevelopment of the Nicaraguan economy, to make agreements in the economic realm to fight poverty, create jobs, develop health programs, all that the State needs to be able to respond to the people, and we were walking at a good pace,” recalled the Sandinista president.

Ortega said that the “extremist groups” that condemned and questioned the understanding between the Government and the businessmen, accused the latter of being Sandinista militants and for that reason went to “denounce them to the United States.”

“When the results were being seen of a country that had been advancing, growing, defeating poverty, in April that understanding was broken, it was destroyed with the loss of lives caused by those who attempted the coup, they also did a huge damage to the country’s economy,” he repeated.

Ortega did not mention that the negotiating table will be with the Civic Alliance. He justified his ignorance alleging that it would be the businessmen who should decide it, because this is a principle of all negotiations.

The “coup d’etat”

Ortega justified that the economic crisis throughout the country is a product of an alleged coup d’état attempt, whose existence has been denied by the international human rights organizations and recently by the mission of members of the European Parliament who visited the country.

“For the people, our recognition for the way they have been facing the challenges that the coup attempt left us. With this criminal action they launched many Nicaraguan brothers into unemployment, affecting the foundations of our economy, which had an uninterrupted sustainable growth, growth that was between 4.5% to 5%,” the dictator told his supporters.

Ortega argued that the “coup” was so strong in the economic field, that it pushed them to present reforms to the Concertation Tax Law in the National Assembly, which raises the amounts of payments to the Government. He denies any responsibility of his government regarding the economic crisis that the country is going through. The approval of the controversial fiscal measures has been postponed twice.

The dictator was accompanied at the presiding table by the Chief of the National Police Francisco Diaz, the Chief of the Army, General Julio Cesar Aviles; Vice President Rosario Murillo; the Interior Minister Maria Amelia Coronel, and the Minister of Defense, Martha Ruiz. Also present were the deputies Edwin Castro, Gustavo Porras, and diplomats from the countries that support the Ortega regime, such as Taiwan, Cuba and Iran.

A retaining wall

During his speech, the dictator argued that Nicaragua is a “retaining wall” in Central America despite the fact that the Police and the National Army have the lowest budget in the region to carry out their work.

“And here lies the great strength, in the unity of the institutions with the people, which explains the effectiveness of our institutions to build a retaining wall against drug trafficking and organized crime, and coordinating with our brothers in Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, and beyond,” claimed Ortega.