President Mulino Criticizes Nicaragua: 'We Are Facing A Country That Has Neither God Nor Law'

(MENAFN- Newsroom Panama) “We are facing a country that has neither God nor law,” said the President of the Republic, José Raúl Mulino, on Thursday, December 12, 2024, referring to Nicaragua
and pointing out that neither international nor domestic law is respected there.
“We must also understand that we are not working with an ordinary country that respects international law. It does not respect international law, domestic law, or any other law,” said Mulino.
He added:“It is a rather
unique
country when it comes to appealing to the law. That does not exist there. There is no law in Nicaragua.”
Panamanian Foreign Minister Javier Martínez Acha reported that last week he called the Nicaraguan ambassador to Panama, Consuelo Sandoval, to ask that the embassy be used exclusively for asylum purposes and not as a“focus of political meetings.”
The situation in Nicaragua has been the subject of growing international concern. According to a report by the UN Human Rights Office published last September, human rights in the country have seriously deteriorated, with an increase in arbitrary arrests, intimidation of opponents and violations of the rights of indigenous peoples.

The report highlights that Nicaragua authorities persecute not only dissidents, but also any organization or individual acting independently, including media outlets, NGOs and human rights defenders. In the midst of this crisis, President Daniel Ortega, pictured above, has pushed through a constitutional reform that concentrates power in the figure of two“co-presidents” – Ortega and his wife, Rosario Murillo – and eliminates the separation of powers. Civil society organizations have denounced that this reform“consolidates the closure of civic space, eliminates freedom of expression and ensures impunity for human rights violations.” In addition, it allows statelessness, repeals the prohibition of torture and militarizes state control. The IDEA Group, made up of former heads of state and government from Spain and the Americas, urged Western democracies not to normalize what they consider a dictatorship.“The country is adopting an openly dictatorial constitutional model that is shared by the Ortega-Murillo couple,” they said, warning of the historic regression and attacks on freedom of expression and religion in Nicaragua.

MENAFN13122024000218011062ID1108989248