The government of Daniel Ortega said it is “unacceptable,” the presence a commission of the human rights arm of the Organization of American States (OAS) in Nicaragua.
The panel, known as Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts (GIEI, by its Spanish acronym), is supposed to support current investigations, review records, and interview witnesses regarding the human rights abuses that have left more than 300 people dead since April 18, according to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).
Investigators commissioned by the OAS urged the Nicaraguan government to provide them full access to documents related to the violence that took place from April 18 to May 30 in Nicaragua.
“The four members of the investigative panel are all impartial, internationally respected specialists in human rights and international law. The government insists it has nothing to hide; if that’s the case it should be working actively with the panel, not stalling on or denying requests for information,” said Geoff Thale, the Vice President for Programs at the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), a leading research and advocacy organization advancing human rights in the Americas.
However, a press release issued by the Ortega government denounced the “interventionist commission” which was created four months ago by the OAS Permanent Council and promoted by the United States, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru.
According to OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro, the special commission was sent in to analyze the country’s internal crisis and not to interfere. However, the Commission has stated it plans to defend democracy, justice and human rights within Nicaragua.
In an official statement published late last month, the government of President Daniel Ortega said the commission was neither needed nor wanted and was in fact “energetically rejected” as a political maneuver which does not have Nicaraguan consent.
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