Sinergia expresses its total condemnation for human rights violations in Nicaragua

SINERGIA, network of civil society organizations in Venezuela, expresses its total condemnation for Human Rights violations and repression committed by the State of Nicaragua and pledges its full solidarity with the people and civil society that demand justice.

According to a press release of the Inter American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), dated August 2, 2018, 317 people have been murdered in the context of the protests sparked in Nicaragua against the Ortega-Murillo regime.

The Permanent Human Rights Commission (IPHRC) has denounced that 132 people have been arrested for their involvement in protests, and are considered political prisoners. Also, there are reports of cases of arbitrary detentions, serious injuries, cases of torture, enforced disappearances and attacks against the civilian population by State security forces, involving paramilitary groups that support government repression.
An important number of human rights defenders, social and religious leaders, journalists, scholars and representative figures of the cultural world, have been forced into exile, due to the threats against their physical integrity and that of their families.
A growing number of institutions, civil society organizations, defense bodies, political groups and regional governments have expressed their concern and repudiation for all forms of violence, the shutdown of democratic spaces and the justice system’s actions since the country’s current political and institutional crisis started, over four months ago. We acknowledge the fundamental role played by the Catholic Church in denouncing these repressive and anti-democratic actions, in demanding compliance with right guarantees and in calling for dialogue and peace.
We’ve been able to verify how the regimes of Venezuela and Nicaragua are implementing non-democratic forms and mechanisms of confrontation and of violation of fundamental rights, to smother dissidence, criticism and civilian protests, criminalizing legitimate citizen actions. We can highlight the use of common patterns and the use of censorship against the media and the application of a communicational campaign to try and impose an official truth that contradicts the events and situations reported by citizens themselves, local and international media outlets, and independent observers.
Sure of the importance of developing and supporting –in both countries- citizen action, demanding that the State comply with constitutional guarantees, using democratic mechanisms for resolving conflicts and respecting human rights, we express:

• Our total solidarity with the people of Nicaragua and their fight and we join them in their fair demands to their country’s government.
• The demand for an immediate end to repression and the release of political prisoners.
• The urgent compliance with the recommendations presented in the report issued by the Inter American Commission on Human Rights.
• The urgent compliance with the recommendations presented in the report issued by the Inter American Commission on Human Rights.
• The urgent compliance with the recommendations presented in the report issued by the Inter American Commission on Human Rights.
• The urgent compliance with the recommendations presented in the report issued by the Inter American Commission on Human Rights.
• The need for opening a channel of political dialogue that allows for the resolution of the conflict through democratic mechanisms.

We call on all the organized, democratic and autonomous expressions of civil society, committed with the defense of rights and devoted to fundamental values and rights, to come together in a great campaign of solidarity, to raise our voice and determination, against new intentions of establishing authoritarian regimes in our continent.

Caracas, August 20, 2018.

SINERGIA, a network that brings together 53 Civil Society Organizations in Venezuela, united in the constant work for sustainable development and the defense of the rights of all citizens, promoting participation and free association as pillars for the construction and strengthening of a democratic system with freedom and justice.