This Thursday, the Nicaraguan government rejected again the negotiation with the opposition on the possibility of defacing the elections of 2021, as part of the dialogue to resolve the crisis that the country is experiencing as a result of the protests of last year, informed an official source.
Foreign Minister Denis Moncada, head of the government delegation in the dialogue, argued that advancing the elections would violate the Constitution, which establishes clearly defined presidential periods.
He also alleged that the Civic Alliance for Justice and Democracy (ACJD), which groups the opposition in the dialogue, has no representatives in parliament to push for a constitutional reform authorizing the alteration of the third successive presidential term of Daniel Ortega, in power since 2007.
Moncada says the Alliance is composed of sectors that were involved in an attempted coup and violation of the constitutional order of the country, in reference to the anti-government protests that broke out last April, and that Ortega has attributed to a failed coup.
According to humanitarian groups, the repression of the protests left at least 325 dead, thousands of exiles and hundreds of detainees.
The opposition delegate José Pallais stressed that the advancement of elections is an “irrevocable” issue for the opposition and that there can be no guarantees of stability and confidence if an agreement is not reached on that matter.
The ACJD was formed in May of last year with students, businessmen and civil society to talk to the government in the midst of the protests, but the effort failed a month later because of the constant repression against protesters.
On February 27th, the government agreed to resume talks with the Alliance in the midst of a serious political and economic crisis in the country and threats of international sanctions.
The influential US Senator Marco Rubio said on Twitter on Thursday that for the dialogue in Nicaragua to be “effective”, the international community must demand that the elections go ahead and that all opponents arrested for protest be released immediately.
He reminded people that the so-called Nica Act, which the United States approved last December to restrict access to multilateral credits to the government of Managua, will continue to be applied with full force if Ortega intends to use these negotiations as a farce.