Aid to Nicaragua at risk with possible OAS charter action

Nicaragua could face a significant loss of foreign aid this year should the Organization of American States (OAS) approve a motion to invoke the Inter-American Democratic Charter against the country, which continues to face charges of grave human rights violations surrounding massive protests last year.

Costa Rica's foreign ministry confirmed Saturday that it had received a request from the head of OAS to invoke what is known as Article 20 of the organization's charter, which may be activated when a member state produces an alteration in the constitutional order that seriously harms democratic order.

The request followed the decision last month by President Daniel Ortega's government to suspend the presence of the OAS' Special Follow-up Mechanism for Nicaragua (MESENI) and visits by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) to Nicaragua.

Any member nation or the OAS' secretary-general could now call for an immediate convening of the body's permanent council to resolve the matter.

The presidency of the permanent council passed from Costa Rica to El Salvador on January 1.

Should the council vote to approve the action, the Nicaraguan government would immediately lose all access to sources of financing from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the World Bank.

According to local media outlet La Prensa, analysts believe this would include funds already earmarked for disbursement during 2019.

The analysts believe this would theoretically block 3.25bn cordobas (US$100mn) in expected loans this year from IDB and 150bn cordobas (US$4.63mn) in donations.

Such a scenario would add to the difficulties the country already faces to obtain fresh resources from these agencies given the recent approval of the Nica Act, in the US, the analysts noted.

Nicaraguan response

The Nicaraguan government decried any OAS consideration of invoking Article 20.

"The decision of the OAS Secretary General, Luis Almagro, to promote the application of the Inter-American Democratic Charter against Nicaragua is inappropriate, illegal, without legal basis," said Nicaraguan foreign minister Denis Moncada in a letter addressed to his counterparts in the Americas, as reported in regional outlet Estrategia y Negocios.

Moncada further asserted that the Ortega government had been democratically elected for the period 2017-2022 with the support of 72% of Nicaraguans.

He also alleged that the charter does not empower Almagro "to support the coup groups," in reference to the opposition protesters who requested the resignation of Ortega during the protests last year.

Pictured: A field mass held by the Catholic Church in favor of peace in Nicaragua, in capital Managua on January 1.