Nicaragua withdraws credentials of OAS envoys, closes Managua office

Managua, Apr 24 (EFE).- The government of Nicaragua announced Sunday the withdrawal of the credentials of its representatives to the Organization of American States (OAS) and ratified its decision to leave the organization.

“We withdraw the credentials of our representatives, colleagues Orlando Tardencilla, Iván Lara and Michael Campbell. We will not have a presence in any of the instances of that diabolical instrument of the misnamed OAS,” said Foreign Minister Denis Moncada in a public statement.

The government ratified its “invariable decision to leave the OAS, as expressed on November 19, 2021,” he said.

“In the face of this truculent, calamitous and lying agency of the State Department of Yankee imperialism, we also announce that as of this day, we are leaving all the deceitful mechanisms of this monster, be they the permanent commission, commissions, meetings, and the Summit of the Americas,” Moncada added.

The foreign minister also announced the closure of the OAS offices in Managua. Minutes after the announcement, the National Police surrounded the OAS offices on the outskirts of the capital, and their signs were dismantled, according to EFE.

The government had in November announced its decision to withdraw from the OAS after the organization rejected the legitimacy of the country’s elections held that month, in which President Daniel Ortega was re-elected with his wife Rosario Murillo as vice president, and with seven of his opponents in prison and two in exile.

Nicaragua’s withdrawal will become official in November 2023, two years after the announcement of its decision.

Since 2018, Nicaragua has been experiencing a sociopolitical crisis that was accentuated in the November elections. EFE

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