-Thursday, November 21, 2019-




By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

Hemispheric officials who studied the human rights situation in Nicaragua now want the full General Assembly of the Organization of American States to address the issue in a special session.

As expected, the high-level commission set up Aug. 29 determined that Nicaragua is experiencing a critical human rights situation that urgently demands the attention of the Inter-American community and the world at large. In addition the lack of freedoms in the country has become desperate, creating a critical situation with regards to civil and political liberties, which must be reestablished in order to restore the rule of law in the country, the commission said, adding that the restoration of freedoms in the country, including its suppressed civil and political liberties, is a matter of urgency, and that it calls on Nicaragua to act accordingly, particularly with respect to the freedoms of expression, of assembly, and of demonstration and the right of protest.

The commission presented its report this week.

The commission urged the General Assembly to consider the matter in light of Article 20 which provides for expulsion of a member country where the constitutional regime has broken down. The Organization of American States has 34 participating members of the countries of the Western Hemisphere. Article 20 is infrequently applied.

The commission said the government of Nicaragua refused to meet the commission which was created as a diplomatic effort by the General Assembly and prohibited its members from entering Nicaragua. Still, the commission said it conducted its study, in part, with interviews with important witnesses permitted by the governments of Argentina, Canada, Jamaica, Paraguay, the United States and El Salvador.

The commission was set up to make diplomatic efforts to seek a peaceful and effective solution to the political and social crisis in Nicaragua and to submit its report within a maximum of 75 days, a short deadline in diplomatic circles. A handful of ambassador-level diplomats headed the commission.

Basically the report said that the government of Nicaragua was ignoring its own constitution and has shown a pattern of efforts designed to curtail the rights of its citizens, including ongoing harassment and intimidation, restrictions of political rights, freedom of the press, freedom of expression, the right to personal liberty and human treatment.

The commission said that an effort should be made to make electoral reform a priority in Nicaragua. That appears to mean easing the tense situation with new elections that meet international standards for fairness.

Tuesday the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Costa Rica called on the Nicaraguan authorities to stop the police siege of relatives of political prisoners, church representatives and the faithful who are in the Church of San Miguel de Masaya. The siege ended the same day when hunger strikers inside the church left and the police stood down.

Also, the ministry requested the government of Nicaragua to release 13 Nicaraguan citizens, who are considered political prisoners.

"The government of Costa Rica reiterates its deep concern about the systematic violation of the human rights of Nicaraguans, especially the right to freedom of expression, peaceful demonstration and religious freedom, all of them guaranteed by the Nicaraguan Constitution," said the ministry in its statement.

Sunday the General Secretariat of the Organization of American States expressed its concern and condemned the latest acts of repression and detention of protesters reported in Nicaragua.

"The siege and harassment of the families of political prisoners in the Church of San Miguel de Masaya is a blatant violation of the rights of people who are expressing themselves peacefully for the freedom of their relatives," said the organization in its statement.

In the same way, the General Secretariat rejected the detention of at least 13 people who were showing their support for the relatives of prisoners and calls for their immediate release. "Their arrest is even more deplorable as these people were under the protection of the Catholic Church, an entity recognized by all political actors in Nicaragua," said the Organization of American States.

The report of the High-Level Commission on Nicaragua, can be reached at the Organization of American States site.


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