Above Photo: Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), Luis Almagro. File photo.
The Nicaraguan delegation to the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States (OAS) firmly and categorically denounced, on Friday, February 18, the OAS’ notification for scheduling a special session of its member states to address “the situation in Nicaragua.”
Previously, the OAS had issued a declaration condemning alleged lack of legal guarantees in Nicaragua and what it considered as human rights violations perpetrated by the government of Nicaragua. Such declarations of the OAS referred to the judicial procedures being carried out in Nicaragua against some of the promoters of the violent 2018 coup attempt that was backed and financed by the United States.
“We want to make it very clear that we will not be an issue on Washington’s ideological agenda, we are not a political experiment, we are not anyone’s backyard, nor are we part of the Ministry of Colonies,” the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) government declared in its statement.
“We are the sovereign homeland of Augusto Calderón Sandino and Benjamín Zeledón,” continued the statement, referring to Nicaragua’s national heroes. “Our sovereignty and legitimacy do not come from this dying and shameful organization [OAS], but from the will of the Nicaraguan people, of a free motherland, where the people are and will continue to be president,” thus asserting the Sandinista slogan “El pueblo presidente.”
“While some bow their heads and are ashamed of their revolutionary principles and values, we defend our free and sovereign motherland with dignity,” commented the FSLN government in its statement, pointing to the anti-Nicaragua attitude of some countries.
The Nicaraguan statement also denounced all those member states that have promoted the resolutions of the OAS against Nicaragua and speak of human rights without considering the atrocities committed by the United States and Canada.
“The worst prison in the world is Guantánamo,” declared the statement, referring to the United States’ Guantánamo Naval Base, which has US torture specialists as its personnel.
“When has the IACHR [Inter-American Commission on Human Rights] gone to Guantánamo?” the Nicaraguan delegation questioned. “Why not ask for a session for the prisons where migrant children are humiliated and mistreated, or for the massacres of indigenous peoples in Canada?”
The statement called the OAS a “Ministry of Colonies,” whose members are “kneeling at the feet of their masters,” and which toe the line in compliance with the White House. The statement also reminded the Permanent Council of the sanctions, threats and blackmail suffered by Nicaragua which, despite all this, has not bowed down to any empire.
The delegation from Nicaragua stated that the Sandinista government is fighting poverty and social exclusion, and is committed to establishing gender equity and providing free quality healthcare and education to its citizens, as well as defending the rights of indigenous and Afro-descendant peoples. The Nicaraguan government also has several programs for expanding social security of citizens and for the use of renewable energies.
Apart from the United States and Canada, the OAS member states that have backed the organization’s stance on Nicaragua are Argentina, Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Dominican Republic, St. Kitts y Nevis, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, and Uruguay. The delegation of the fake “president” of Venezuela, Juan Guaidó also support OAS’ anti-Nicaragua posture. It should be noted here that Venezuela withdrew from the OAS in 2019, and Nicaragua also started its withdrawal process in November 2021, a procedure that will take two years to get finalized.
Condemning the actions of the aforementioned OAS members, the Nicaraguan statement declared, “Canada has no moral to talk about human rights. Neither does Chile, whose Carabineros blinded hundreds of young university students and where raping of young detainees has been reported… Let’s not talk about Black Lives Matter anymore, when Antigua and Barbuda cowardly remained silent so as not to offend the empire.”
Although the statement did not mention Argentina by name, the country’s recent position on Nicaragua has been quite inconsistent. On certain occasions, Argentina backed the OAS’ motions against Daniel Ortega’s administration, while on others it avoided being part of the organization’s demands on Nicaragua. However, this time, it seems that Alberto Fernández’s government yielded to pressure in the midst of its current tense relation with Washington, all the more pronounced due to Fernandez’s recent visits to Moscow and Beijing as well as Argentina’s ongoing negotiation with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).