Throughout the last few days we have shown our determination to seek a peaceful solution to the serious crisis in which the intransigence of the Ortega Murillo regime has plunged the country in. At the time, we agreed to go to a National Dialogue despite the fact that there were no conditions or political will of the regime, which is expressed in time lost in sterile discussions without entering into the main themes of the dialogue: Justice and Democratization.
From the last April, Nicaragua and the Nicaraguans have changed irreversibly. Until then we were made to believe that we lived in a country of peace, security and progress. But in one single night of violence and rampant repression, arise the country that was hiding from us and that had been silenced by repression and the use of the National Police and para-police forces
These protests arose and its sole objective is to build a real country, with peace, democracy, justice. No lies, no cheating, no manipulation and no repression. As has been evidenced in multitudinous manifestations, this is a genuine desire of the immense majority of the Nicaraguan people.
The regime’s attempt to delegitimize and criminalize this protest is a clear violation of the rights of freedom of expression, free mobilization and we hold the government responsible for any act of repression that has its origin in these threats. They have threatened not only members of this alliance, but also members of the Episcopal Conference of Nicaragua.
This desire for change and to build a democratic country by peaceful means and through dialogue, have had as response from the regime, the worst massacre in times of peace, massacre that has left more than 100 dead, more than a thousand injured, thousands of detainees, hundreds of tortured and disappeared, censorship of the media and other acts of intimidation and harassment that resulted in numerous violations of human rights, confirm in strong reports issued by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) and by Amnesty International (AI).
We continue to believe that the National Dialogue it still is a way to find a peaceful way out to the current crisis. However, after the last events, it will only be possible to continue dialoguing if the conditions set by the Episcopal Conference of Nicaragua are fulfilled and if there are independent international guarantors.
The mass mobilizations in Managua and other cities of the country on Mother’s Day are a reflection of the feelings of thousands of Nicaraguans who cry for the restoration of justice and democracy and a sign of the spirit that we must keep alive to redouble efforts in all the fronts. First, to unmask the true nature of this regime, and second, to reaffirm that it is we, the people of Nicaragua, who have in our hands the construction of the Nicaragua that we all desire without exclusion and with dignity.
From this Alliance, which unites students, farmers, workers, civil society, the private sector and the Caribbean Coast, we call on intensifying the different forms of peaceful protest:
- Intensify and organize the fight for university autonomy.
- Reinforce and organize the road blocks and plantings, as well as denounce the road blocks organized by the regime.
- Strengthen centers for the collection of medicines, donations of blood and food.
- Reinforce the different expressions of solidarity and support that never cease to amaze us.
We acknowledge as a very positive step the pronouncement of the main representatives of the private sector that join the demand for a quick, just and democratic exit from the Ortega Murillo regime.
We raise our demands to the international instances so that all the legal mechanisms are activated to protect and save Nicaragua from the repressive government that we have. We welcome the joint resolution of the European Parliament condemning the acts of repression, as well as the communication from the Congress of Deputies of Costa Rica, among other expressions of solidarity.
We demand that the regime permit the presence in Nicaragua of the United Nations High Commissioner for the Office of the Rapporteur for Human Rights and compliance with recommendation 15 of the Preliminary Observations of the Working Visit of the IACHR to Nicaragua, which states: «Commit to a follow-up mechanism with the IACHR to verify the implementation of the recommendations issued in the framework of this visit, and the report thereof.
Schedule a concrete calendar with the IACHR for new visits «We demand from President Ortega the immediate cessation of the actions of the para-police forces, organized by the regime, to stop the violence that every day stains Nicaragua with blood.
We are not for speeches, nor for beautiful words, we do demand concrete actions that shown that they want a peaceful solution to the crisis, as well as respect for life and the end to repression.
University and Civil Society Coalition
AmCham
Funides
Faganic
Caribbean Coast
National Council in Defense of Our Land, Lake and Sovereignty – Countrymen Movement
COSEP
Upanic
Civil society
