The Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, the first two governments that officially suspend cooperation projects in Nicaragua, after last Wednesday the Organization of American States (OAS) issued a resolution condemning the repression of the Nicaraguan population.
The two countries announced Friday the suspension of cooperation projects with the Government of Nicaragua, due to what they point out as the serious human rights violations that have been committed in the country since April, when the anti-government protests began.
In the case of the Netherlands (often referred to as Holland), the government announced the suspension for two months of cooperation for the construction of a hospital in Bilwi, Autonomous Region of the North Caribbean Coast (RACCN), for “serious human rights violations committed by officials of the government and vigilante groups. ” The provision freezes 18.4 million euros.
The hospital would be regional and would have a capacity of 207 beds and the second hospital funded by the Netherlands, that contributed 20 million euros for the construction of the Fernando Velez Paiz Hospital in Managua.
The decision of the Netherlands is also due to “complaints about the obstruction and the serious delay in access to medical care for protesters in Nicaragua.”
In the case of Luxembourg, it has signed three indicative cooperation programs, each with a duration of four years and with an average cooperation amount of 30 million euros each. Only for the period 2015-2017, Luxembourg donated 28.66 million euros to the Nicaraguan government, invested in professional training, health and tourism.
Luxembourg revealed that it froze the disbursements directed to the Government and suspended the process of signing a new cooperation program, because its contribution “has always been based on respect for human rights and democratic values.”
Romain Schneider, Minister of Cooperation and Humanitarian Action of Luxembourg, announced that his country is financially supporting the Special Follow-up Mechanism for Nicaragua (Meseni) and the Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts (GIEI).
ne of the most emblematic projects of this cooperation was the construction and equipping of the School Hotel “Casa Luxemburgo”, inaugurated in January of this year. It is a center for the training of young people of the National Technological Institute (Inatec) that had an investment of US5.1 million dollars.
The two countries called on the Nicaraguan authorities to fully implement the recommendations made by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), including the investigation of the allegations of obstruction of medical assistance and the immediate stop of the violence and the dismantling of paramilitary groups.
The Netherlands and Luxembourg also called for the Nicaraguan government’s respect human of rights.
Article originally appeared on Today Nicaragua and is republished here with permission.
