European Parliament condemned ‘authoritarian drift’ in Nicaragua and called for more sanctions for Daniel Ortega

The plenary session of the European Parliament on Thursday called for European Union sanctions against Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and his wife Vice President Rosario Murillo, for the repression in the country, and demanded the release of all political prisoners and condemned the authoritarian drift of the Sandinista regime.

In a resolution, The Parliament expresses its solidarity with the Nicaraguan population and “strongly condemns all the repressive actions of the Nicaraguan authorities” against the democratic opposition parties and their members, the journalists. and other media professionals, students, indigenous peoples or human rights and civil society defenders.

“That the imposition of restrictive measures, repression and human rights violations be immediately ended”, and that “accounts be kept for the serious violations committed by the Nicaraguan government since 2018”, asked the deputies in reference. to the social explosion against Ortega that started then.

In May 2020, the EU has already sanctioned two Ortega advisers and four police chiefs for “serious human rights violations”, by freezing their assets in Europe and banning them from traveling to Community territory.

Today, the parliamentary plenary session went further and urged the EU Council and Member States to “”rapidly expand “the list of persons and entities which should be subject to sanctions, “Including the President and Vice President of Nicaragua and their close circle of friends, including ensuring that the Nicaraguan people are not harmed.”

During a plenary debate on the situation in Nicaragua on Tuesday, EU High Representative for Foreign Policy Josep Borrell said: “In the coming days, we will be asking the Council about the possibility of taking restrictive measures similar to those already taken in the past.

Concretely, he was inclined so that these new sanctions “do not affect the citizens” and serve to do “all the political pressure that we are able to exert, with the means at our disposal and in collaboration with the United States, with the Organization of American States (OAS) and with all the countries which share the same concern”.

The plenary also asked today “immediate e unconditional“Release of” all political prisoners arbitrarily detained “, including the presidential candidates Cristiana Chamorro, Arturo Cruz, Félix Maradiaga, Juan Sebastián Chamorro, Miguel Mora and Medardo Mairena.

Political leaders too José Pallais, José Adán Aguerri, Dora María Téllez, Hugo Torres, Víctor Hugo Tinoco, Violeta Granera, Ana Margarita Vijil, Suyen Barahona and Pedro Joaquín Chamorro, and other opposition activists, human rights defenders and journalists.

The European Parliament called on them to respect their “fundamental legal guarantees, their human rights and their civil and political rights”., and urged the government to provide “immediate proof that those imprisoned are still alive, as well as their whereabouts”.

Borrell considered Tuesday that Ortega’s diet “succeeded in sowing a climate of fear and discouragement in the population”, Although the EU wishes to maintain links with citizens through current instruments, such as the Association Agreement it maintains with Nicaragua.

Also, Parliament urged the authorities to lift the de facto state of siege, to respect the role of the national police as a non-political force, to disarm the paramilitary forces, to respect the agreements signed with the Civic Alliance and restore the rights of citizens.

The plenary session reiterated its call for “an inclusive dialogue and democracy to be restored as the only peaceful solution to the political, economic and social crisis” that Nicaragua is going through.

Thus, in view of the next presidential and legislative elections, scheduled for November 7, urged the Nicaraguan authorities to immediately amend the electoral law in accordance with the international parameters requested by the OAS.

Also to restore the legal status parties that have been deprived of this respect the right of Nicaraguans to elect and be elected and ensure the unrestricted presence of national and international election observation bodies.

“For the European Parliament to recognize the elections and the resulting government, the changes demanded by the OAS and international organizations must be implemented, including the restoration of rights and freedoms that allow a free, credible and fair electoral process.»Concluded the MEPs.

(With information from EFE)

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