Nicaragua formalized its withdrawal from the Organization of American States (OAS), closing the organization’s regional office in its capital Managua and announcing its absence from the next deliberative spaces. In November, the Nicaraguan government had already sent a letter to the OAS Secretary General, Luis Almagro, announcing its intention to withdraw from the regional alliance.
“We ratify our decision of November 19, 2021 to leave the OAS. We also communicate that from that date on we are not part of all deceptive bodies, such as the Permanent Council, Commissions, meetings or the Summit of the Americas,” Nicaragua said in a statement. announced on Sunday (24).
In the same text, they characterize the OAS as “one of the US State Department’s political instruments of intervention and domination”.
With 73 years of history, the OAS proposed to bring together all 35 countries of the American continent. Several Latin American countries denounce the organization’s relationship with coups d’état, as in Bolivia in 2019, or other destabilizing activities, such as the recognition of the self-proclaimed president Juan Guaidó, in Venezuela.
In November last year, the OAS did not recognize the legitimacy of the electoral victory of Daniel Ortega (FSLN) for his 5th term as president with 75.8% of the vote.
Thus, Nicaragua is the second country, after Venezuela, to voluntarily withdraw from the OAS. The termination process, provided for in the organization’s founding letter, determines a period of two years for the member nation to notify its intention and to be absent from the spaces, however Nicaragua went ahead and closed the OAS regional office just five months after notify your termination.
The direct consequences of leaving the organization depend on the Nicaraguan State’s relationship with other multilateral organizations. Nicaragua also loses its representation in the Court and in the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, as well as, theoretically, it would not be able to access financing and credit from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).
Editing: Thales Schmidt
