Nicaragua closes Organization of American States' office in country

By Sinan Dogan

BOGOTA, Colombia (AA) - The Nicaraguan government said Sunday that it has closed the office of the Organization of American States (OAS) in the country and is expelling its staff.

"The People and Government of Nicaragua have denounced and continue to denounce the shameful condition of one of the political instruments of intervention and domination of the State Department of the government of the United States, wrongly and falsely called the Organization of American States," said a statement by Nicaraguan Foreign Minister Denis Moncada, adding it "will not recognize this Instrument of the colonial administration, which does not represent at any time the sovereign union of our Latin and Caribbean America."

Accusing the OAS of being a "diabolical instrument" of "intervention and domination" by the US, Moncada also asked the staff to leave the country.

In its statement on Nov. 20, 2021, the Foreign Ministry had sent a letter to the OAS requesting to leave the organization.

President Daniel Ortega, 76, who has been in power since 2007, was declared the winner of last November’s presidential election alongside his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, after nearly 40 of his opponents were arrested by government security forces months before the country's vote.

The OAS declared that the elections "were not free, fair or transparent and lacked democratic legitimacy."

The US subsequently imposed an entry ban on Ortega, his wife and his government as President Joe Biden called the elections a "pantomime."