This communication from Nicaraguans living in Europe is significant because it calls on international bodies to take a stand now on the illegitimacy of the current electoral process in Nicaragua, based on the recent actions of the Nicaraguan government – including the imprisonment of principal opposition candidates.
SOSNicaraguaEuropa
Europe, August 4, 2021
We, organizations of the Nicaraguan community residing outside the country, in the condition of diaspora, migrants or political exiles, along with international groups in solidarity with the freedom of Nicaragua, declare:
That the government of Nicaragua has not fulfilled the necessary conditions to carry out a free and fair electoral process. Illegality and Illegitimacy are the basis on which an electoral farse is being assembled for the elections of November, as has been demonstrated with the following verifiable facts:
- Lack of recognition on the part of the regime of the declarations, resolutions and recommendations of the OAS and the Human Rights Council of the UN which have been published since the events of 2018. Those same positions have been adopted by the consensus of a super majority of its member states, where they express their alarm over the deterioration of the political environment and the human rights situation in Nicaragua, including the abuse of laws and actions to intimidate and threaten members of the opposition and the press, and to restrict political participation. Likewise, also in their resolutions, these organizations have called for the liberation, duly monitored and verified, of all political prisoners; they have denounced that the effective work has been blocked of the Interamerican Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) and their mechanisms in Nicaragua, including the Special Followup Mechanism for Nicaragua (MESENI).
- The promulgation and publication of unconstitutional and illegitimate laws, used to instill fear and silence the political opposition and independent communications media, such as: Law 1055 or “Sovereignty of the People”, law 1040 or “Regulation of Foreign Agents”, which propose life sentences for “hate crimes”, law 1042 or “Special Law of Cybercrimes”, which punishes up to four years of prison for the dissemination of false news in social communications media; law 1060 or “Reform of the Penal Code” and the reforms to the Electoral law. These laws undermine the exercise of social protest and the freedom of expression, as well as the right to participate in public affairs and the right of association.
- The arrest of political opposition leaders who were running as pre-candidates for the November elections, disregarding the necessary judicial procedures, violating their fundamental human rights, like the right to a legitimate defense. Up to now the whereabouts of many of these people is unknown, and their health conditions, with torture being the modus operandi of the dictatorship, we express our rejection of the arrests which have happened and our concern for the lives and health of the jailed pre-candidates, as well as for the 140 political prisoners who are still jailed in the penitentiary system.
- The implementation of a de facto police state, which relies on a repressive apparatus composed of police forces, parapolice and the judicial system of the regime which intimidates and harasses the civilian population of the country. All of this flagrantly violates the freedom of expression and the exercise of the right to peaceful assembly. The exercise or defense of these fundamental human rights have as a result imprisonment, torture and the disappearance of the civilian population.
- The deprivation in May 2020 of the legal status of the Democratic Restoration Party, the electoral vehicle of the National Coalition, and the Conservative Party, leaving without a ballot position a broad sector of the opposition of the country, and therefore leaving without representation the Nicaraguan population that does not support the regime.
- The dictatorship has seized the branches of the state preventing their independence and fundamental functions, the Supreme Electoral Council, controlled by the regime has been reformed to favor the interests of the FSLN, and with that the electoral process which will be held in November of this year. These reforms of the Supreme Electoral Council nullify national and international electoral observation, leave the process in the dark and violate the resolutions and recommendations made by international bodies, of which Nicaragua is a member. Likewise, the possibility of introducing legal recourses in the Supreme Court has been cancelled, as a democratic means for the defense of the opposition, and in this way cancels the possibility of a fair and legitimate electoral process, essential components for the exercise of democracy.
We call on the international community and multilateral bodies to express their repudiation and disregard of the electoral process and the voting that will be carried out this coming November 7th, and we exhort them to pressure the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo so that they agree to a free, observed and transparent electoral process.
We reiterate our profound commitment to the Nicaraguan people, the defense of democracy, justice and human rights.
FREE FATHERLAND TO LIVE
THIS IS A SELF CONVOKED STRUGGLE
LONG LIVE FREE NICARAGUA!