The Organization of American States (OAS), a regional human rights body, voted to convene an emergency meeting of foreign ministers on Nicaragua, declaring that representative democracy “no longer exists” in the country.
On August 12, the OAS Permanent Council approved a resolution calling for the meeting by an overwhelming vote of 29-1, with one abstention and two countries absent, according to a post on the social media platform X.
The resolution described developments in Nicaragua as “a matter of urgent nature and of common interest to the American states.” It invoked Articles 61, 62, and 63 of the OAS Charter, tools typically reserved for emergency situations requiring a collective response. The council chair was also instructed to draft an agenda for the meeting “as soon as possible.”
The vote follows changes under co-president Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo, a husband-and-wife leadership duo. Ortega, who led Nicaragua from 1979 to 1990, returned to power in 2007 and has since been accused of consolidating power at the expense of human rights.
In July, his government announced new constitutional reforms, extending the presidential term from six to seven years. The changes also bar opposition figures from running if they are deemed “traitors to the fatherland,” and allow the National Electoral Council to dissolve any political party that receives foreign funding. Ortega has stated that elections will no longer be held for the opposition “to try and win government.”
Nicaragua's National Assembly is expected to vote on the proposed amendments in September, and the OAS decision comes ahead of that crucial vote. However, Nicaragua is no longer a member of the OAS. It announced its withdrawal from the regional body in 2021 and completed the process two years later, in 2023.
The OAS has previously criticized the Ortega government for efforts to undermine democratic institutions in Nicaragua. The United Nations has expressed similar concerns. In July, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk warned that preventing elections would further erode the rule of law in Nicaragua, emphasizing the “severe restriction of fundamental freedoms” under Ortega and his wife, Murillo, who was promoted from vice president to co-president in 2025.
Critics argue that the suppression of dissent has intensified since the student-led protests of 2018, when the government responded with force, resulting in hundreds of deaths. Since then, Ortega has imprisoned critics, shut down independent media outlets, suspended NGOs, and dissolved opposition parties.
In 2023, his government put more than 200 political prisoners on planes and sent them out of the country, subsequently stripping them of Nicaraguan citizenship, leading to their permanent exile. Ortega justifies his actions as necessary to counter outside influence, including from the United States.
