Against the “apparent” vote, Nicaragua begins to withdraw from the OAS News

The Organization of American States passed a resolution last week saying the Nicaraguan elections lacked “democratic legitimacy”.

The Nicaraguan government has begun the process of withdrawing from the Organization of American States (OAS) after the regional organization denounced the country’s last presidency. elections as illegal.

Nicaraguan Foreign Minister Denis Moncada accused the OAS of interventionism and US control.

“We are resigning and disassociating from the Organization of American States,” Moncada said at a news conference, adding that the OAS has “a mission to facilitate U.S. hegemony with interventionism over Latin American countries.”

Leaving the OAS will take about two years because Nicaragua is fulfilling its obligations.

The movement comes after the president of Nicaragua Daniel Ortega, A former Marxist guerrilla who has been in office since 2007, was re-elected a the fourth consecutive term rights groups and international observers voted neither free nor fair in the Nov. 7 vote.

Looking ahead to the elections, the Ortega government dozens of opposition leaders were jailed – including seven possible presidential candidates – and critics accused the Sandinista leader of hardening against his opponents.

Ortega, 76, ran for re-election with his wife and vice president Rosario Murillo, and won about 76 percent of the vote, according to Nicaragua’s Supreme Electoral Council.

Russia, Cuba and Venezuela expressed support for Ortega after the vote, while the US, UK and European Union thwarted the vote, with US President Joe Biden accusing Ortega and his wife of holding “unfree or unfair pantomime elections”. .

Experts also warned of the human rights situation in Nicaragua make it worse in the coming months.

Ortega has been accused of increasing authoritarianism since Mass anti-government protests It exploded in Nicaragua in 2018.

Since then, more than 103,600 people have fled the country, most of them to Costa Rica, according to a count by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. At least 328 people were killed in government crackdowns and more than 1,600 others were arrested. At least 136 people remain in prison.

Last week, the General Assembly of the OAS taken The resolution says the Nicaraguan elections have no “democratic legitimacy”.

Twenty-five nations voted in favor of the motion and seven countries, including Mexico, Honduras and Bolivia, abstained. Only Nicaragua voted against it.

They strongly condemned the fact that the last elections in Nicaragua were neither free nor fair [Mayela Lopez/Reuters]

“The November 7 elections in Nicaragua were not free, fair or transparent and lacked democratic legitimacy,” the OAS ruling said.

World powers have imposed new sanctions and other restrictions on votes against Nicaraguan government officials.

The Biden administration banned members on Tuesday Government of Nicaragua since entering the country a day earlier, the US announced its separation monetary penalties Against Nicaraguan officials “in response to fake national elections.”

The United Kingdom and Canada also announced new sanctions against prominent Nicaraguan officials.