Nicaragua: London protest rejects Ortega’s electoral fraud

On November 5 in London, just two days before the electoral farce in Nicaragua, a group of protesters took to the streets in solidarity with the Nicaraguan people. The gathering took place outside the offices of the UK Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the organizers report.

• Gioconda Belli: The elections are merely “Ortega ratifying his power”

The protestors expressed their rejection of the bogus vote in Nicaragua, emphasizing that there can never be free elections with candidates, leaders, and opposition activists in prison and with political parties and human rights, feminist and independent media organizations annulled by the Ortega dictatorship.

Addressing the audience, Nicaraguan-British activist, Bianca Jagger, a tireless defender of human rights and fighter for the end of the dictatorship in Nicaragua, said:

"What is happening on Sunday, November 7, cannot be called an election. You cannot have an electoral process when every legitimate opposition candidate is in jail. Since May, Daniel Ortega has imprisoned 30 opposition leaders, including 7 potential presidential candidates who cannot participate in the electoral process, as well as student and rural leaders."

• Daniel Ortega’s political defeat on November 7

To end the demonstration, representatives of the protest group delivered a letter to Wendy Morton, Minister of the British government with responsibility for the European Community and the Americas. Signed by more than 200 British and Nicaraguan people residing in the United Kingdom, the letter demanded the following decisive actions on the part of the British government:

• A public declaration of the illegitimacy of the elections,

• A call for the immediate release of all political prisoners,

• The application of sanctions according to current legislation (Nicaragua (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020) and

• Nicaragua’s suspension of the trade agreement between the UK and Central America.

The letter was also delivered to the inter-party parliamentary group on Latin America whose role includes advising the British government on political, economic, and social issues.

The event held in London is part of the “world march” a series of similar protest actions taking place around the world this weekend in multiple cities and countries in Europe, the US, Canada and South and Central America. In addition to condemning the electoral fraud, they are an expression of solidarity and commitment to the Nicaraguan people, concluded the organizers.

*This article was originally published in Havana Times