Presidente Daniel Ortega Saavedra, de La República de Nicaragua. (Wikipedia Commons Presidencia de la República Mexicana)

DIPLOMATIC  TIMES  STAFF

Nicaragua announced  it will withdraw from the Organization of American States after the OAS  harshly condemned the Nov. 7 election in which President Daniel Ortega won a fourth consecutive term. Ortega  overwhelmingly won  the vote, according to the country’s election officials.  However, many leaders around the world claimed the elections were a sham. Nicaragua Foreign Minister Denis Moncada told a press conference in Managua last week that  OAS Secretary-General Luis Almagro has been officially notified of “our unwavering decision to renounce the OAS Charter, in accord with its Article 143, which starts Nicaragua’s definitive withdrawal and renunciation of this organization.”  In a letter to Almagro, the Ortega government accused the OAS of violating its own charter by interfering in Nicaragua’s internal affairs.  The OAS adopted a resolution that states the Nov. 7 elections were “not free, fair or transparent and lack democratic legitimacy.”  The OAS urged future actions against the Nicaraguan government. The US, UK and European Union blasted the vote, with US President Joe Biden accusing directly accusing Ortega and his wife of manipulating the voting. 

“What Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, orchestrated today was a pantomime election that was neither free nor fair, and most certainly not democratic,”  President Biden said in a White House statement.  

OAS Resolution Could Add More Sanctions on Nicaraguan Officials

OAS Secretary-General Luis Almagro

Under the resolution, OAS Permanent Council is instructed to draw up a report by November 30 assessing the situation and recommending “appropriate action.”  The resolution could potentially result in slapping additional sanctions on Nicaraguan officials.