Human Rights Watch also questioned the Latin American leadership claims of Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) described this Friday as “shameful and disappointing” the response of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to the crisis in Nicaragua, which this Sunday has elections in which President Daniel Ortega seeks another reelection.
“President López Obrador’s response to the brutal repression against opponents and critics orchestrated by Ortega in Nicaragua has been shameful and disappointing,” tweeted José Miguel Vivanco, executive director of HRW for the Americas.
Vivanco shared the interview he gave to the newspaper Reforma prior to Sunday’s elections, for which seven candidates for the Presidency of the opposition were arrested, which has paved the way for Ortega, in power since 2007, to win his fifth term. and fourth in a row.
The HRW representative recalled that Mexico refused, along with Argentina, to accompany a resolution approved on June 15 by 26 countries of the Organization of American States (OAS) to condemn the persecution of opponents, with the argument of “ non-intervention in internal affairs ”.
“What it has done is hide behind the obsolete principle of ‘non-intervention’ while democracy and the rule of law disintegrate in Latin America,” Vivanco told Reforma.
López Obrador limited himself to asking to “guarantee freedoms”, avoid “repression” and “not imprison”, questioned about the political situation in Nicaragua in his morning press conference on June 25 last.
For this reason, the HRW leader questioned the Latin American leadership claims of the Mexican president, who has asked to replace the OAS with a mechanism “similar” to the European Union (EU) and has condemned the US embargo on Cuba.
“López Obrador says he wants to be a regional leader. But he has not made the slightest attempt to lead in response to the crisis in Nicaragua, “Vivanco observed.
Earlier, HRW denounced in a manifesto signed with Amnesty International (AI), the Washington Office for Latin American Affairs (WOLA) and other organizations that “there are no conditions” to hold the elections next Sunday in Nicaragua.
The United States, Canada and the European Union (EU) have warned of sanctions after next Sunday’s elections amid questions of their legitimacy.