The United States will use the Organization of American States (OAS) to isolate Nicaragua's government following constitutional changes that Washington says have "erased what remains" of democracy in the Central American nation.
In a statement issued on August 27 (local time), US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, are waging a "war against democracy" that threatens regional stability and prosperity. Accordingly, the US will use the upcoming OAS meeting to urge countries in the region to stop "business as usual" with Nicaragua.
Rubio's statement came after Nicaraguan lawmakers on August 26 approved a package of constitutional reforms banning opposition parties from participating in elections and extending the presidential term from six to seven years. The move had earlier drawn criticism from the US and several regional countries.
Last month, the OAS decided to convene a meeting on Nicaragua's situation, calling it an "urgent matter of common interest to the nations of the Americas." Nicaragua had announced its withdrawal from the regional body in 2022, after the OAS repeatedly criticized Ortega's government over human rights issues. The withdrawal was completed in 2023. Earlier, Venezuela under former President Nicolas Maduro also began its process of leaving the OAS in 2017 after the organization criticized his government's handling of political unrest.
In July, Ortega's government sent a draft constitutional reform to lawmakers, proposing to bar opposition members deemed "traitors" and "coup plotters" from elections, extend the presidential term to seven years, and allow reappointment. The draft would also dissolve political parties that receive funding from abroad.
Speaking at an event marking the 1979 Sandino revolution, Ortega stressed that there would be no more elections for the opposition to try to win power. Ortega, a former Marxist guerrilla leader, headed the military government after the Nicaraguan revolution until 1990. He returned to power in 2007 and is currently the longest-serving sitting leader in the Western Hemisphere.
According to statistics, more than 300 people were killed in a crackdown on student-led anti-government protests in 2018. Afterwards, Ortega imprisoned political rivals and journalists, eventually sending hundreds into exile and stripping them of their Nicaraguan nationality. At least 200 of those exiled have settled in the United States.
