Interview with Foreign Minister Denis Moncada, from Nicaragua, by Telesur
on Nicaragua's withdrawal from the OAS
November 19, 2021
Telesur: We are here with the Foreign Minister of Nicaragua, Denis Moncada, who joins us from Nicaragua. Welcome, good evening.
Foreign Minister Denis Moncada: Good evening.
Telesur: Thank you very much for joining us. Now that the decision has been taken, what implications will this have on the life of the country?
Foreign Minister Denis Moncada: The main implication is that Nicaragua is making use of the Rights of Sovereignty, of defense of its Independence, Self-Determination and National Dignity. We have taken the decision to denounce the OAS Charter and to disassociate ourselves from that Organization, in accordance with the Article that regulates the procedure to continue to make a reality precisely of the Denunciation and withdrawal and to put an end to a relationship that has been an unfriendly, aggressive, offensive and outrageous relationship for Nicaragua.
Telesur: Why do the country's political commentators, Foreign Minister, say that this Organization has become a builder of Interferences and disagreements to the detriment of the Peoples of Our America?
Foreign Minister Denis Moncada: Because the truth is that this has been the practice and is the reality, the OAS continues to be the instrument created by the United States to project its policy of interference, hegemony, intervention, threats and aggression against the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean. This has been a reality and it continues to be so, taking advantage of the subordination of some Latin American and Caribbean governments that do not answer to the interests of their respective peoples.
Telesur: Specifically which Latin American and Caribbean governments are you referring to, Chancellor?
Foreign Minister Denis Moncada: I think it is widely known that right-wing governments predominate in Latin America at this moment, and that the region's Peoples are precisely making maximum efforts in the Electoral Processes to change the situation, and elect authentically democratic governments that answer to the interests of the Peoples of our Countries.
Telesur: Here there is a point that it may be important to make clear. We are talking about denouncing the OAS as an instrument of U.S. domination, as Comandante Fidel Castro described it, as the Ministry of Colonies. So, I ask you: Why does Nicaragua choose to put itself on this side of History?
Foreign Minister Denis Moncada: We have been consistent with a History of Struggle for National Sovereignty, for the defense of the Dignity of our Country, for the defense of Countries attacked by the United States and other Colonialist Powers; that is to say, Nicaragua under the Government of President Daniel Ortega and Compañera Rosario, the Sandinista National Liberation Front has maintained a position of struggle, of defense and of precisely strengthening the anti-imperialist, anti-aggressive, anti-colonialist positions of Powers such as the United States and some Countries of the European Union.
Telesur: Foreign Minister, have you had any contact with the governments of the region to make known your position, your point of view?
Foreign Minister Denis Moncada: Early this morning, we sent the Official Communication to the OAS Secretary General, precisely demanding that it be circulated, as it correspondingly should be, it is the obligation of the Secretary General, to circulate and make known to the States, to the OAS Member Governments in Latin America and the Caribbean, the Communication, the irrevocable decision of the Government of Nicaragua, the Government led by President Ortega, to initiate the Withdrawal Process and to give continuity to the communication to the States, and precisely to separate ourselves, to disassociate ourselves and for the two-year period to elapse as established in the Charter to materialize the Withdrawal.
Telesur: Please tell us, in depth, as the official voice of the Government of Nicaragua, how the OAS tried to interfere in the decisions that belong to the people of Nicaragua.
Foreign Minister Denis Moncada: We would need more time to recount all the actions that the OAS has taken over the course of time. I think we can simplify it by saying that the OAS is an instrument of the United States, and the United States imposes and makes maximum efforts at the political, economic and often military level to impose its hegemony, such that the OAS, as a puppet instrument of the United States, goes along with that, complying with the designs and mandates of the United States.
Nicaragua, actually, we have approximately 150 years of history before the OAS existed, and since the OAS came to exist, it has continued with that policy of intervention, interference and domination based on the Monroe Doctrine, which the United States straightforwardly defined as its strategy to appropriate, take over and dominate the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean.
Telesur: Now I also ask you, listening to the word Instrument: What instruments should prevail as the Spaces of Our American Union to make the voice of our Peoples heard in a Sovereign way, always based on Respect, Dignity and non-interference in internal affairs?
Foreign Minister Denis Moncada: Yes; we have to continue strengthening the Unity of our Peoples and of the Progressive, Advanced, Revolutionary Governments of Latin America and the Caribbean; to strengthen that Unity and that Integration. That is to say, to strengthen, as is being done and as we have been doing, ALBA-TCP, CELAC, the UN, the Non-Aligned Movement; in short, the Organizations that in some way advance the Projects and Proposals, the Interests of our Countries Peoples.
I believe that we have resources to be able to continue strengthening ourselves and really disassociate ourselves from the OAS completely in the case of Nicaragua, and we hope that these countries too, above all those of the other Latin American and Caribbean Peoples, demand that their governments also withdraw from the OAS as an instrument that is not appropriate for the Latin American and Caribbean Peoples.
Telesur: I was about to ask you if you expect other Peoples, other governments to replicate and take the same action.
Foreign Minister Denis Moncada: The Peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean are also making progress, waking up and becoming aware of what is just, what their Peoples' interests are and of the maneuvers and actions that affect their own Rights.
So in that regard, we hope that the Peoples will also demand that their governments, including their right-wing or ultra-conservative governments, do after all take a position in the OAS, on the one hand, of respect for other countries, and on the other hand, of separating from and moving forward from their relationship with an organization that is harmful to all the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean.
Telesur: Is it the Model or the logic of the OAS or of Luis Almagro that needs to be brought up to date, Foreign Minister?
Foreign Minister Denis Moncada: Both, because the OAS is an instrument as we have been saying that is fundamental for the United States, and Almagro is an agent of the United States acting to launch this interference and interventionist activity of the OAS. Simply and straighforwardly, he is a person that really, we would say, is going to become unmentionably notorious, or rather, not that he is going to become so, but that he is already beyond the pale.
Telesur: The Peoples of the World are asking for a new way of doing things regarding their treatment, sharing information and facts, how decisions are made in spaces such as the OAS itself. What do you think about this?
Foreign Minister Denis Moncada: The New International Order continues to be a demand also of Advanced Countries, of Progressive Governments, of Revolutionary Governments, and what we have to do is to strengthen our Organizations, strengthen Respect for International Law, for the UN Charter, for the Rules regulating Organizations, respect for the Sovereignty, the Independence of the Countries, of the Peoples, of the Governments; respect for the Norms of Peaceful Coexistence so as to make it possible to move forward, to advance, with Dignity and with Respect for the Sovereignty of the States, Self-Determination, Independence, Freedom, and Respect for the Governments of the different Countries.
Telesur: Foreign Minister, thank you very much and good evening.
Foreign Minister Denis Moncada: Thank you very much, till next time, thank you for the communication.