OAS council may seek emergency foreign‑ministers session over Nicaragua crackdown

The Permanent Council of the Organization of American States (OAS) may summon hemispheric foreign ministers for an emergency session on Nicaragua after President Daniel Ortega’s vow to end elections and deepening concerns over crackdowns against the Catholic Church.

At a special meeting on Aug. 5, the formal U.S. representation at the OAS presented the draft resolution, titled “Convocation of a Meeting of Consultation of Ministers of Foreign Affairs to Consider the Situation in Nicaragua.” The Permanent Mission of the United States’ resolution was cosponsored by the Permanent Missions of Argentina, Panama, Paraguay, and Uruguay.

The Permanent Mission of the United States called for the meeting to take place before Sept. 1, when the Ortega regime is set to codify its latest policy reforms. 

The move would invoke one of the OAS’ highest‑level diplomatic tools, signaling that member states view Nicaragua’s political rupture as a regional concern with direct human rights implications. Ortega’s announcement, paired with constitutional changes aimed at blocking opposition figures from power, prompted the United States and Paraguay to request the extraordinary meeting.

Commissioner Rosa María Payá, rapporteur for Nicaragua at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, expressed concern at the OAS Permanent Council meeting over ongoing human rights abuses against Nicaraguans, including arbitrary detentions and forced disappearances.

She noted that about 838,363 Nicaraguans have fled the country since 2018 and that many face transnational repression. Representatives for several member states said during the meeting that the forced migration of Nicaraguans constitutes a migration crisis and a threat to national security.

Payá, a Catholic of Cuban descent, also highlighted persecution of the Catholic Church in Nicaragua, citing the disappearance of Bishop Emeritus Juan Abelardo Mata Guevara of Estelí, Nicaragua. Mata was detained by police on two occasions in late June after praying for the persecuted Church in Nicaragua during a Mass he celebrated on Sunday, June 28.

“We are very concerned about the situation of the persecution of the Catholic Church in Nicaragua and the persecution of the faith in general, and the practice and the exercise of the faith,” Payá told EWTN News. “We have been very vocal about our concerns and alarm about the disappearance of Monsignor Abelardo Mata Guevara.”

In October 2023, the Permanent Council unanimously approved the resolution “Rejection of the Repressive Measures of the Government of Nicaragua Against Educational Institutions and the Catholic Church in Nicaragua.” Nicaragua withdrew from the OAS in November 2023.

“When we talk about the Nicaraguan regime, we actually see a systematic continued behavior in the direction of violating freedom of religion, from the situation that took place with Monsignor [Rolando] Alvarez years ago — heʼs now forced to live in exile — to the situation of Monsignor Mata and many other priests and members of the Catholic communities that are afraid to practice their faith,” she said.

Payá said the Ortega regime’s suspension of elections has prompted a “collapse of democracy,” which she said “creates an environment of fear that impacts people of faith.”

“Iʼm Catholic myself and I also come from a society that has suffered the violation of human rights,” she said. “So I deeply understand what it is to to be afraid to speak your mind, what it is to be afraid of practicing and voicing your faith, which is a very primary human exercise.”

Payá is the daughter of Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas, a Catholic dissident who founded the Christian Liberation Movement (CLM), a peaceful democratic movement inspired by Catholic social teaching in 1988. He was killed during the Cuban Spring in 2012.

“All of my solidarity is with the Nicaraguan people,” Payá said. “And I believe that also all the solidarity of the commission is too, and we will keep following the issue and we will keep engaging in the political dialogue with the member states.”

Source: https://www.ewtnnews.com/world/americas/oas-council-may-seek-emergency-foreign-ministers-session-over-nicaragua-crackdown