MANAGUA, March 9 (NNN-AGENCIES) – The opposition in Nicaragua announced it would reconsider whether to continue crisis talks with President Daniel Ortega’s government seeking, after the country’s bishops declined to participate in the process.
The head of the opposition Civic Alliance for Justice and Democracy, former
diplomat Carlos Tunnerman, said at a press conference following the close of an eighth round of talks that it would immediately “rethink the negotiation.”
“We will not physically be in the negotiation forum,” the Bishops
Conference, headed by Cardinal Archbishop of Managua Leopoldo Brenes, had said in a statement following the meeting in Managua.
The Civic Alliance, which advocates for entrepreneurs, students, rural
communities and civil society, is seeking the release of all political
prisoners, the restoration of civil liberties, electoral reform and justice
for victims of the repression.
After eight rounds of negotiations, the government has yet to share its
goals for the talks — and has shielded itself with a confidentiality pact
that bans the parties from sharing details of the discussions with the press.
The crisis began in April 2018, sparking months of protests across the
Central American country against Ortega’s leftist government.
More than 300 people were killed in a brutal crackdown on the opposition
and independent media. Hundreds of opposition figures were thrown in jail and more than 50,000 Nicaraguans fled the country. — NNN-AGENCIES
