Negotiations will continue • El Nuevo Diario

Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes, President of the Bishops' Conference of Nicaragua (CEN) and Archbishop of Managua, congratulated Sunday of the "positive" meeting held Saturday by representatives of the private sector with the government, in order to find a way out of the crisis in the country started last April 18th.

Brenes explained that several private sector representatives attended the meeting. "It was a meeting that the businessmen wanted to have with the president, to express their concerns, he was listened to and they continued to have other meetings to continue to consolidate," said the cardinal.

He reported that at Saturday's meeting, the parties "discussed and shared the concerns expressed by Europeans, the ones we see in the population".

When asked if an agenda had been set up between the businessmen and the government, Brenes replied, "The agenda has not been established, but I think a first meeting is always positive after it has not been given, so we must continue "

The government and businessmen have not left a date for a future meeting, and we will continue to pray that soon these meetings will lead to a dialogue, "Brenes said.

On the request for the release of the detainees for protesting against the government, the cardinal said that "this will be part of the next meetings that could take place.We must continue to advocate that people deprived of their freedom get their freedom."

The participants

On the private sector attendees at the meeting, Brenes said: "One was Carlos Pellas and others from Lafise and Banpro, the others I do not remember."

Sources linked to the private sector confirmed that, on behalf of Lafise and Banpro, the participants were Roberto Zamora and Ramiro Ortiz respectively; as well as Juan Bautista Sacasa, of the BDF, and José Antonio Baltodano, of the CISA group, linked to the board of directors of the Nicaraguan Foundation for Economic and Social Development (Funides).

Funides President Gerardo Baltodano said: "We understand that the meeting has managed to open the door to dialogue and, in the words of Cardinal Brenes, always with the Church mediators. its mission to promote a negotiated solution for building a democratic society based on social justice. "

The Executive Director of the Nicaraguan Foundation for Economic and Social Development (Funides), Juan Sebastián Chamorro, described as a "positive step" the fact that the government, after meeting businessmen and representatives of the Dominican Republic, 39, Catholic Church, has shown interest in the opening of a negotiation.

"It is a positive step, we understand what it is, it is a step towards the opening of a negotiation.In this sense, we see it positive, they received the bishops, it is a signal positive, "said Chamorro.

For Mario Arana, current president of the American Chamber of Commerce of Nicaragua (AmCham), it is positive that they "resume the ways of dialogue and that the Church has announced its participation in this meeting".

Arana suggests that "we all work in good faith and seek to solve the underlying problems in order to see if we can rebuild the social fabric that has been mistreated during this crisis and allow Nicaragua to return to its current state".

The Civic Alliance for Justice and Democracy, in a statement, urged the nation's forces to "do their best so that this negotiation, if it occurs, will produce all the efforts desired by all Nicaraguans" .

Cardinal Brenes commented: "We have seen how Americans came to meet the President (Ortega), the MEPs, the OAS and now all this group of businessmen, all this is paid, hopefully, at some point, very far, we can have all the stability of the country, things are happening little by little, I hope that there will be more meetings. "

The Bishop of Matagalpa, Msgr. Rolando Álvarez, added to the positive badessments arising from the Government of Nicaragua's announcement on "the need for an agreement" to resolve the current socio-political crisis that the country is going through.

"I appreciate the meeting between Ortega and the representatives of the company and the Catholic Church, which opens an important door for people of good will to find the way to go from forward, "said Bishop Álvarez. The new newspaper.

The bishop of Matagalpa expressed hope that the government's decision to "open a bridge" would contribute to holding serious, responsible and frank meetings.

For his part, Bishop Silvio Báez stressed the need to demand a "genuine" dialogue and declared that the Episcopal Conference will meet on Monday to address the national reality. "There, I suppose, will come some of these ideas," said the bishop.

"We must all try to move forward and demand genuine dialogue, where citizens are the first subjects of participation and where the goal is to restore democracy in Nicaragua. table, behind the people, brought a lot of disappointment and hurt our society. "

"It is necessary that dialogue be possible, the first of all is the release of political prisoners, there can be no national dialogue if there are young people, students, peasants, journalists in prison" said Báez.