MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th November, 2019) The Organization of American States (OAS) accused Nicaragua of human rights violations, releasing a report of the High-Level Commission on Nicaragua days after Bolivia's former Foreign Minister Diego Pary was welcomed in Nicaragua.
"In light of the analysis of the work carried out by the High Level Commission, the Commission is of the view that actions taken or permitted by the Government of Nicaragua since April 2018 are inconsistent with the rights and guarantees protected in the Nicaragua 1987 Constitution and that these are giving rise to an alteration of the constitutional regime that seriously impairs the democratic order in Nicaragua," the OAS Commission said in its report, published late on Tuesday.
The commission said that its members were prohibited from entering Nicaragua and the country's government had refused to meet with commission members, but this did not prevent it from compiling a report based on testimonies from "victims and stakeholders."
"The Commission would like to thank the OAS Secretariat, the Governments of Argentina, Canada, Jamaica, Paraguay and the United States for the support they provided, as well as the Government of El Salvador for allowing the Commission to meet with important witnesses in its country," the report says.
On November 14, Nicaragua's Vice President Rosario Murillo welcomed Bolivia's former Foreign Minister Diego Pary upon his arrival in Nicaragua. Pary stepped down together with most of Bolivia's ministers following the resignation of former President Evo Morales. The OAS has published a preliminary report that found irregularities in the October 20 election in Bolivia. Morales secured victory in the first round, but the opposition refused to recognize the results, which led to mass protests in the country.
On Tuesday, OAS said that it was going to send its human rights commission to Bolivia to look into the country's human rights record.
In April 2018, mass protests were organized in Nicaragua with demonstrators calling for the resignation of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega. According to Human Rights Watch, over 300 people were killed during the protests. The US Treasury Department announced earlier this month that it was imposing economic sanctions on three officials in the government of Ortega.
