Nica News Roundup (March 12 – UPDATED) – The “Bride of Tola”, Part 2.

March 12, 2019

Nicaragua

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OrMu’s negotiators showed up to INCAE for the second day in a row, only to find themselves jilted at the altar, once more. The Alianza is holding fast.

The Alianza’s absence today makes it clear that they won’t return to negotiations until the Ortega-Murillo administration meets the four preconditions laid out in their March 10 statement, namely (1) releasing political prisoners, (2) a stop to the repression and kidnappings, (3) full observance of international standards in regards to treatment of political prisoners, including the prohibition against cruel, degrading, and inhuman treatment, as well as the provision of medical aid to inmates, and (4) a stop to the harassment against the families of the detainees.

The administration has yet to acknowledge that the Alianza now demands concrete signs of good faith and willingness to negotiate honestly towards a solution to the crisis. Instead, today’s press conference and “communique” insists on a return to negotiation about the fate of political prisoners, electoral reform, justice and reparations, and a suspension of international sanctions.

The Alianza is now unwilling to negotiate the fate of political prisoners, as indicated by the fact that every single precondition they are now asking for involves political prisoners. Yesterday, Ernesto Medina, one of the alternate members of the negotiating team, called on the government to give signs of good faith.

It should be clear to the government that there is a lot of mistrust, and that the only way to overcome it […] is by giving minimal signs [of good faith]. What we are asking for is the minimum. We shouldn’t be discussing the freedom of young men and women who have not committed any crimes. We shouldn’t have to ask for an end of unjust persecution of young people who have not committed any crime. Cities around Nicaragua shouldn’t be under siege, with police everywhere as though we were at war. Those are not conditions [for a dialogue].

The closest that the Ortega-Murillo administration has come to signs of good faith are the transfer of 100 prisoners to house arrest and the authorization given to the papal nuncio, Mons. Sommertag, to visit inmates at the Modelo and Esperanza Prisons

The administration transferred 100 prisoners to house a rest, a move that Reuters erroneously reported as the government having “freed 100 political prisoners last month, just before the start of the new talks.”  Unfortunately, that is not the case. House arrest, or “the regimen of family coexistence” as it is referred to in Nicaraguan law, is not a synonym for freedom or even release, as it does not nullify any sentences or stop proceedings against a person. All it does is grant inmates the benefit of doing time at home, “under the control of the penitentiary system” (see “Regulations for Law 473, Article 114″). People under house arrest can be kept there until they fulfill their sentence, or are granted amnesty or a pardon.

On the other hand, Mons. Sommertag’s visit, though appropriately diplomatic, was carefully stage-managed, as the papal envoy met with 16 inmates in a visitation room. A prior visit, by a delegation from the European Union Parliament, was a PR disaster for the OrMu administration, when parliamentarians began sharing video of their conversations with several inmates, including Irlanda Jerez, Amaya Coppens, Lucia Pineda Ubau, and Miguel Mora. The papal envoy was not granted that level of access, nor did he provide any updates on the condition of the inmates he met. Instead, the nunciature issued a statement acknowledging that Mons. Sommertag had had a “personal, frank, and open conversation with each of the detainees, listening attentively to their words, worries, and fears.”

The negotiation impasse comes just as the European Parliament is discussing the text of a resolution about Nicaragua. According to Ramon Jáuregui, who led the European Parliament delegation that visited Nicaragua in January, the impasse “bring out many doubts about the will of the government in the negotiations. The freedom of political prisoners is a necessary condition for dialogue.”

Despacho505, a Nicaraguan journalists’ collective in exile in Spain, shared one of the proposals on the table, put forward by the European Conservatives and Reformists Group (ECR). According to MEP Ana Gomes, this is not the only proposal on the table, as all other groups will weigh in and finalize a consensus text.

Among other things, the ECR’s proposal “demands the immediate release of all political prisoners”, and requests “immediate electoral reforms, to guarantee free and transparent elections, and recommends that the opposition work to overcome internal divisions.”

The ECR’s proposal also warns the Ortega-Murillo duo that “Nicaragua must respect the rule of law, democracy, and human rights”. As a consequence of the OrMu’s failure to do so, the European Parliament encourages the activation “the democratic clause, which would suspend Nicaragua from the Association Agreement between the European Union and Central America.”

The Association Agreement, signed in 2012, guides EU-Central American relations in the areas of trade, political dialogue, and foreign aid.

In addition, the ECR calls on the European Union and its member states to “continue watching the situation, and consider the application of sanctions, with urgency.” This sanctions would be in addition to the suspension from the Association Agreement, and they may be targeted at individuals and/or corporate entities, as the resolution also indicates that “sanctions must not harm the country’s population.”

CORRECTION: In the original version of this post, I misidentified Mr. Ramon Jáuregui as president of the European Parliament. Mr. Jáuregui is an MEP representing Spain. The President of the European Parliament is Antonio Tajani (Italy).

2. A second version of this post misidentified the authorship of the draft circulated by Despacho 505. This proposal was put forward by the European Conservatives and Reformists Group within the European parliament.

I regret the error.

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