Will Daniel Ortega be able to give in to all the demands of the opposition?

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The conditions established by the Nicaraguan opposition to negotiate with Daniel Ortega are a desperate cry for the country's freedom

Eleven months after the civil uprising against the government of Daniel Ortega, Nicaragua has experienced its most volatile political process in recent days. In mid-February 2019, its president requested to stipulate a new negotiation and dialogue agreement with the Civic Alliance for Justice and Democracy, but in more convenient terms for himself. However, before the previous disagreements that were evident in the first articulation process scheduled in June 2018, the opposition rejected the despotic request of the Sandinista regime of not fully recognizing the deceased that resulted from the demonstrations against the regime. In that moment, it was stipulated that it was a number no less than 400 dead, according to the Nicaraguan Association for Human Rights (ANPDH).

Leer en español: ¿Daniel Ortega podrá ceder a todas las exigencias de la oposición?

However, the point of discord centered on the government's denial of Daniel Ortega's response to the opposition's request to release the detainees from the beginning of the demonstrations in April last year. According to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, the discontent of the Sandinista regime in the face of the demonstrations has left a balance of more than 300 detainees arbitrarily. The Nicaraguan opposition rules out the possibility of carrying out dialogues without that condition: the freedom of the detained Nicaraguans.

Panorama for a possible peaceful solution to the sociopolitical crisis

Faced with the opposition's refusal to formalize a dialogue, as a result of the repression exercised by Nicaraguan officials in the opposition march held on March 15, in which a little over 100 people were arrested, the Civic Alliance for Justice and Democracy presents a determined agenda as the only way to open a negotiation process again.

1) Freedoms.

2) Democracy.

3) Justice.

4) Implementation.

5) Compliance with the recommendations of the IACHR.

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These are the steps to follow in order to agree on a dialogue between the pro-government regime and the opposition. The demands remain unchanged and indisputable, whose first step is to release once and for all the detainees in the protests started since last April. This would allow to verify the legitimacy and consent of Ortega when accessing the dialogue.

In a fruitful result, the government agreed to release the detainees within 90 days. This was made official at the press conference provided by opposition leaders on March 20, in which it is reiterated that the negotiating agenda must be enforced to keep the path open to what, from the perspective of Nicaraguan political leaders, would bring calmness to the country.

However, within the framework of the items within the negotiation agenda, compliance with the recommendations by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights was previously clouded by the government's partial compliance. This shows an evident concern for the opposition alliance, which in its press conference ratifies this step as something essential to be able to evaluate the accomplishment of the agenda.

On the other hand, and ratifying exhaustively the conditions of the opposition to reactivate a negotiating table, they propose a reform of the Nicaraguan electoral system that allows the verification of transparent processes for future presidential elections. Obviously, it could become an Achilles heel for president Ortega who has had an unstoppable mandate since 2007, succeeding his first term between the years 1970 to 1990, a total of almost 40 presidential years. These long terms do not produce strangeness in the ideological framework that Daniel Ortega has managed, since the political monopoly of the Latin American left in different countries has been very common.

Justice! ratifies the Nicaraguan opposition knotted to the international accompaniment that allows the fulfillment of the Human Rights of the citizens when demanding the rights that correspond to them. In the same line of civil defense, it is to consider and evaluate the demands of the citizens themselves, who have acclaimed throughout the protests an immediate revocation of Ortega's mandate. Apparently, this goes in dissonance with the space of time in which the negotiation tables between both sides have been running.

The fulfillment of human rights as a first step allows creating an atmosphere of calm in a storm time, but it becomes an action in a game in pause, in which the international legal processes for its observation demand time for its fulfillment. At the same time, the consequent sociopolitical concerns of the country are extending in a cycle in which Ortega is still the only beneficiary, whenever he announces a disagreement within the stabilization process for the protection of the human rights of Nicaraguans.

LatinAmerican Post | Gabriela Rivas

Translated from "¿Daniel Ortega podrá ceder a todas las exigencias de la oposición?