Nicaraguan President Ortega Not Welcome at Salvadoran Summit, Women Activists Say

  October 9, 2008, San Salvador, El Salvador: Advocates for women's rights in El Salvador are calling on their government to bar the President of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega, from attending an upcoming presidential summit because of his attempts to repress and intimidate women in his country.
In an Oct. 5 press conference, advocates from CEMUJER, a leading Salvadoran women's group, joined other human rights groups in expressing solidarity with Nicaraguan women. They urged Salvadoran President Antonio Saca to tell Mr Ortega he is unwelcome at the XVII Presidential Summit, a meeting of Central American leaders that starts Oct. 29.    Mr Ortega is accused of threatening women leaders, and of sexually abusing his stepdaughter during the 1980s.     "We denounce and reject the visit of Daniel Ortega to El Salvador. A rapist should not receive presidential honors nor sign a presidential declaration," said Ima Guirola, Director of Public Relations for CEMUJER. "We request that the government of El Salvador declare Ortega as persona non grata."    The press conference, hosted by CEMUJER, was widely covered on major television news channels and in the El Diario de Hoy and El Mundo newspapers. CEMUJER is a partner of The Advocacy Project (AP).     According to CEMUJER, Mr Ortega has made speeches encouraging his supporters to lynch and attack members of the Nicaraguan women's movement. On Sept. 26, he urged "divine mobs" to use sticks, stones, machetes and mortars against women leaders. His targets have included the Autonomous Women's Movement of Nicaragua and the Network Against Violence Against Women.     Mr Ortega, who rose to prominence during the Sandinista revolution in the 1980s and was elected to a second presidential term in 2006, has also approved the detention and search of vehicles in Nicaragua. He has attacked the media, calling them "puppets of the empire," and promised war against independent civil society.       CEMUJER believes that Mr Ortega is using fear to quiet women's voices, isolate members of the women's movement and question their credibility. This, they say, has created an unsafe environment that could increase the risk of women being murdered or disappeared.    Mr Ortega also stands accused of sexually abusing his stepdaughter, Zoilamerica Narvaez, during her childhood. He has denied the allegations, but refused to give up his parliamentary immunity and face justice in Nicaraguan courts.     The anger of women advocates extends to neighboring Honduras, where Selma Estrada resigned her post as Director of Honduras' National Women's Institute in August to protest an official visit by Mr Ortega. Alba America Guirola Zelaya, Founder and Director of CEMUJER, recently sent a letter of praise to Ms Estrada.     In addition to speaking out against Mr Ortega personally, the women of CEMUJER are appealing to Amnesty International to mobilize members against the oppressive conditions in Nicaragua.    CEMUJER is joined in its appeal by the Institute for Human Rights of the Central American University (IDHUCA), the Feminist Collective for Local Development, Women Transforming, Las Dignas, AMUSAMECO, Las Melidas, and Economic and Social Micro-Region.      AP has recruited Peace Fellow Hannah McKeeth, who studied at Trinity Western University in British Columbia, to volunteer with CEMUJER this fall.