Ahead of the EU-CELAC ministerial meeting (see EUROPE 12062), the European External Action Service (EEAS) condemned, on Sunday 15 July, the acts of violence against civil society in Nicaragua.
The European Union condemned the crackdown and delays in provision of medical assistance for those wounded in the attacks of the pro-governmental forces on 14 July against students in Managua. The EU called for "a peaceful and democratic solution" to the political crisis that is shaking the country.
According to French news agency AFP, a massive protest movement has developed over the last three months against Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights reports that over 270 people have died and that more 2,000 have been wounded in these protests.
This stance is growing in importance as the foreign affairs ministers of the EU and of Latin America and the Caribbean meet in Brussels on Monday 16 and Tuesday 17 July. Informal discussions are expected to take place on this issue.
Spain's Foreign Affairs Minister Josep Borrell has expressed his intention to meet the Nicaraguan minister to review the situation in Nicaragua, which according to Borrell, is going "from bad to worse", especially in the last 48 hours. (Original version in French by Carmen García)