By  the A.M. Costa Rica wire services

For more than 15 days, the Nicaraguan deputy of the Liberal Constitutionalist Party, Roger Reyes had to be absent from the plenary session of the National Assembly for presenting symptoms associated with covid-19, the Voice of America Journal reported on Monday.

According to the report, Reyes, 51, claimed to have caught coronavirus in Parliament after attending an emergency meeting.

"I was pretty bad. I went to a hospital three times and they told me I was with the virus,” the legislator told VOA by telephone.

The opposition deputy reported that he had respiratory distress, constant cough and weakness throughout the body. "I felt like I was going to fail," he said.

Three more people from the operative area of his party also presented respiratory symptoms and were sent home, said the organization that forms the opposition in the National Assembly.

Despite this incident, parliamentary sessions have not been suspended. When the first cases of coronavirus were reported in the country, some deputies from the ruling Sandinista National Liberation Front mocked opposition legislators who wore face masks.

"Some pro-government deputies made fun of us for wearing masks and now we see them walking around with masks," said Maximino Rodríguez, head of the caucus of the Liberal Constitutionalist Party (PLC), who warns that covid-19 is no joke.

The head of the bench of the opposition PLC assured that the national parliament has not taken the correct measures, even though according to him there are already deaths and more people infected while working in plenary.

"There are already cases of deputies with covid-19, there are many workers, including dead, but that is the irresponsibility of the Executive (referring to President Daniel Ortega), because he is obliged to send mechanisms to mitigate the pandemic to the National Assembly. However, he is happy in his bunker (house),” Rodríguez assured the VOA.

According to the local media La Prensa, a plenary worker died days ago after presenting symptoms of covid-19, but in the death certificate it was established as "unusual severe pneumonia." A common cause of death, especially during the pandemic in Nicaragua.

For this reason, the opposition bench has taken some precautionary measures for several days and is holding meetings and conferences through mobile applications.

Weeks ago, the Board of Directors of the National Assembly, controlled by Sandinista parliamentarians, sanctioned several opposition deputies who did not attend sessions as a preventive measure for the coronavirus.

The penalties were 15 days of salary reduction and fuel restriction.

Deputy Rodríguez described the measure as "petty" and stated that "sometimes several Sandinista deputies are absent without any justification and are not punished."

At the moment, the sessions continue normally, although this week, of the 90 legislators that make up the Legislative Branch, only 81 participated.

One of the most notorious absences was that of the Sandinista bench chief, Edwin Castro.

Little has been done to address covid-19, but at least three sinks and posters with preventive measures for covid-19 were improvised in the Parliament building. Days ago there were no preventive announcements of covid-19 and instead, propaganda was placed on the late Venezuelan former President Hugo Chávez Frías.

“They do everything at the last minute, but it is not enough. New measures are urgent," said Rodríguez.

According to the report of the Central American Integration System (SICA), Nicaragua reports at least 759 confirmed cases of coronavirus so far, of which 35 people have died.



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Could the lack of attention to the pandemic in Nicaragua affect Costa Rica’s strategy to contain the covid-19 in the country?  We would like to know your thoughts on this story. Send your comments to news@amcostarica.com

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