Almagro’s Unwavering Support for Ortega in Nicaragua

He says that the OAS will not “install” a government in Nicaragua

HAVANA TIMES – The Organization of American States (OAS) Secretary General, Luis Almagro, stands firm as an important ally of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo so they can stay a few more years in the presidency of Nicaragua.

Ignoring the growing rejection of Ortega among the Nicaraguan population, especially after the massacres committed by his police and paramilitary forces against peaceful protests, Almagro today accused a sector of the opposition to Daniel Ortega of being undemocratic. He did not mention who he was referring to.

In an interview with the Voice of America, Almagro maintained that the OAS will not give its endorsement to an overthrow of the Nicaraguan president.

“There are people who want another path that is not electoral or constitutional and I’m not going to put the organization in any other path that is not constitutional or electoral,” said Almagro, who endorsed Ortega’s controversial reelection in 2016 and agreed to help his government improve its electoral system in time for the 2021 elections.

“Others want us to install another government in power. Not that, no way. Do not count on the organization to endorse such an aberration,” he said.

A part of the Nicaraguan opposition calls for immediate early elections as a way out of the grave situation that the country is going through, where more than a hundred people have died in the context of the protests against Ortega that began in mid-April.

It all began with a highly unpopular presidential decree to reform the social security law by taxing pensions and increasing the quotas of workers and employers. Events mushroomed after Ortega unleashed a deadly repression against peaceful student protests. 

Almagro notes that the OAS has been working with the Nicaraguan authorities for a long time on a reform of the electoral process and that until this is over, elections should not be held.

The Uruguayan politician has been accused of acting with double standards regarding Venezuela and Nicaragua.

Almagro is a sworn enemy of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and considered illegitimate his re-election on May 20th, after Maduro virtually copied what Ortega did in Nicaragua a couple years ago, eliminating opposition parties and their main figures from the ballot and nullifying the opposition in the legislature.

Asked today if he believes that in the Central American country there is a dictatorship, he assured that in America there are currently only two dictatorships, Cuba and Venezuela, and said that Nicaragua is “very far” from those countries.

“In the work that we have had with Nicaragua during this time, we have talked about elections,” he said. “We have no possibility today of free elections in Cuba or free elections in Venezuela. Yes, we can achieve it in Nicaragua,” he added.

With information from dpa.