The United States of America approved the election last week, saying the Nicaraguan elections did not have a ‘legitimate democracy’.
The Nicaraguan government has begun work to oust the Organization of American States (OAS) after the regional council criticized the country’s recent president. elections as unlawful.
Nicaraguan Foreign Minister Denis Moncada on Friday criticized the OAS for its intervention and control by the United States.
“We are abandoning and separating ourselves from the United States,” Moncada told a news conference, adding that the OAS has a “mission to govern the United States and to intervene in Latin American countries”.
Withdrawal from OAS will take approximately two years while Nicaragua meets its requirements.
This comes after the President of Nicaragua Daniel Ortega, a former Marxist terrorist who had been in office since 2007, was re-elected fourth time in a row in a November 7 vote in which civil rights groups and observers in other countries have denounced their freedoms or rights.
Leading the election, Ortega government imprisoned many of the opposition leaders – plus seven would-be presidents – and critics criticized the Sandinista leader for cracking down on his opponents.
Ortega, 76, contested the election with his wife and Vice President Rosario Murillo and won nearly 76 percent of the vote, according to the Supreme Electoral Council in Nicaragua.
Russia, Cuba, and Venezuela voted for Ortega after the vote, while the US, UK and European Union opposed the vote, with US President Joe Biden criticizing Ortega and his wife for organizing “pantomime elections that were not free or fair”.
Experts also warn of human rights in Nicaragua worse in the coming months.
Observers criticized Ortega for increasing its power of influence from the masses anti-government protests started in Nicaragua in 2018.
Since then, more than 103,600 people have fled the country – many in Costa Rica, according to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. At least 328 people have been killed in protests by the government and more than 1,600 have been arrested. At least 136 people are still in prison.
Last week, the OAS General Assembly imitation a ruling stating that Nicaragua’s election lacked “legitimate democracy”.
Twenty-five countries voted in favor of the resolution and seven countries – including Mexico, Honduras and Bolivia – opposed it. Nicaragua is the only one that has voted against it.
Recent elections in Nicaragua have been widely criticized as neither free nor fair [Mayela Lopez/Reuters]“The November 7 elections in Nicaragua were not free, fair or transparent and had no democratic credentials,” OAS said.
The international community has imposed new sanctions and other measures to prevent Nicaraguan authorities from voting.
The Biden government on Tuesday banned members of the council Nicaraguan government to stay out of the country, whereas the day before, the US announced its separation financial sanctions against Nicaraguan officials “in response to false elections”.
The UK and Canada also announced new sanctions against prominent Nicaraguan officials.
