{"id":55678,"date":"2022-02-06T13:29:28","date_gmt":"2022-02-06T18:29:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.worldcatholicnews.com\/ernesto-medina-ortega-has-no-interest-in-a-dialogue\/"},"modified":"2022-02-06T13:29:28","modified_gmt":"2022-02-06T18:29:28","slug":"ernesto-medina-ortega-has-no-interest-in-a-dialogue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.worldcatholicnews.com\/ernesto-medina-ortega-has-no-interest-in-a-dialogue\/","title":{"rendered":"Ernesto Medina: \u201cOrtega has no interest in a dialogue\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Conditions for an eventual dialogue \u2013 meaning freedom for the political prisoners and the beginning of a process of democratization in Nicaragua \u2013 are close to zero right now, according to Ernesto Medina, professor and specialist in educational matters. Medina participated in the two failed attempts at a national dialogue with the Ortega regime that were held in 2018 and 2019.<\/p>\n

The principal reason for the current assessment, according to Medina, is similar to the reason that the two previous dialogues failed. There\u2019s a clear lack of political will on the part of Ortega and his allies to find a way out of the socio-political crisis. There\u2019s also no guarantor with sufficient political weight and firmness to assure the implementation of any agreements signed in a hypothetical negotiation.<\/p>\n

Medina is one of the few who participated in both dialogues and was not imprisoned by the government forces. The professor shared some views and recollections on Wednesday, February 2, during an interview on the online weekly news program\u00a0Esta Noche,<\/em>\u00a0transmitted via YouTube and Facebook Live due to the censorship of the Ortega regime. He recalled how the regime and its representatives worked to block any proposals for political change during the two failed dialogues, and to eliminate any attempts to return the country to a more democratic path.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe problem with the former dialogue experiences is that we sat down without really having the proper technical conditions. It wasn\u2019t clear, especially in the first dialogue, who would be participating on the part of the government. Every day different people came to represent them, so that we were never clear if the delegation was truly representative,\u201d Medina recalled.<\/p>\n

That dialogue went off the rails after the Bishops from the Episcopal Conference, who were acting as mediators, put on the table an agenda proposal regarding the constitutional changes needed to reach agreements that would advance the democratization of Nicaragua.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe government talked about dialogue only on the first day. Later, Foreign Minister Denis Moncada saw the document that the Bishops had left on the table, proposing to put the topic of democratization on the agenda. Moncada picked up the paper and said it was a recipe for a coup d\u2019etat. In reality, the proposal had arisen from the work done by the two delegations. In other words, the recipe for a coup, according to Moncada, was a document that laid out clearly the constitutional steps needed to seek a way out of the crisis. The [2018] dialogue died right there,\u201d Medina recounted.<\/p>\n