- Monaco take top spot in Ligue 1 with win at Rennes
- Madrid beat Villarreal to level Liga leaders Barca
- Thuram treble fires Inter past Torino and up to second
- 'Fight': defiant Trump jets in to site of rally shooting
- Mexico City's new mayor sworn in with pledges on water, housing
- Israel on alert ahead of Hamas attack anniversary
- Guardians maul Tigers in MLB playoff series opener
- Macron criticises Israel on Gaza, Lebanon operations
- French rugby player whistled but 'serene' on return amid ongoing rape case
- Retegui hat-trick fires five-star Atalanta to hammering of Genoa
- Heavyweights Australia, England off to World Cup winning starts
- Visiting UN refugee agency chief decries 'terrible crisis' in Lebanon
- Spinners come to party as England defeat Bangladesh at T20 World Cup
- Search continues for missing in deadly Bosnia floods
- Man City sink Fulham to get title bid back on track
- France's Auradou whistled on Pau return in Perpignan loss amid ongoing rape case
- A 'forgotten' valley in storm-hit North Carolina, desperate for help
- Arsenal hit back in style after Southampton scare
- Hezbollah heir apparent Safieddine out of contact after strikes
- Liverpool stay top of Premier League as Arsenal, Man City win
- In dank Tour of Emilia, Pogacar shines in rainbow jersey
- DR Congo launches mpox vaccination drive, hoping to curb outbreak
- Trump returns to site of failed assassination
- Careless Leverkusen held to Bundesliga draw
- O'Brien's 'superstar' Kyprios posts landmark win on Arc weekend
- Liverpool suffer Alisson injury blow
- Habosi helps Racing beat Vannes before Auradou's playing return
- Thousands march in London in support of Palestinians, 1 year after Oct 7
- Israel readying response to Iran missile attack
- Schutt, Mooney help Australia beat Sri Lanka in Women's T20 World Cup
- Liverpool extend Premier League lead with win at Palace
- Djokovic 'shakes rust off' to make third round of Shanghai Masters
- 'Imperfect' PSG fighting on all fronts - Luis Enrique
- Struggling Pakistan look to thwart adaptable England
- Child 'trampled to death' in asylum seekers' Channel crossing: minister
- Gauff fights back to set up Beijing final against Muchova
- Guardiola claims Premier League won't delay season for Man City
- Israel to mark October 7 attack as Gaza war spreads
- Gauff fights back to reach China Open final
- Recovering Stokes ruled out of first Pakistan Test
- Hezbollah battles troops on border as Israel pounds Lebanon
- Alcaraz, Sinner breeze into third round of Shanghai Masters
- Bagnaia wins Japan MotoGP sprint to cut Martin's lead
- Alcaraz breezes into third round of Shanghai Masters
- Gaza cultural heritage brought to light in Geneva
- 'Bullet for democracy': Trump returns to site of rally shooting
- Italy targets climate activists in 'anti-Gandhi' demo clampdown
- South Korean cult-horror series 'Hellbound' returns at BIFF
- Nepalis fear more floods as climate change melts glaciers
- Honduras arrests environmentalist's alleged murderer
Nicaragua expels OAS, leaves organization early: foreign minister
Nicaragua on Sunday closed the offices of the Organization of American States in the capital Managua and brought forward its planned withdrawal from the bloc, the foreign minister said.
Denis Moncada announced his country's immediate split from the OAS and the rescinding of the credentials of its representatives in Washington, saying the "infamous organization" would no longer have offices in Nicaragua.
"Its local headquarters has been closed," he said, reading a statement in an official broadcast.
As of Sunday, Nicaragua was no longer part "of all the deceitful mechanisms of this monstrosity, the so-called Permanent Council, so-called commissions, so-called meetings, so-called Summit of the Americas," said Moncada.
"We will not take part in any of the entities of this diabolical instrument of evil called the OAS," he added.
The government of President Daniel Ortega, a 76-year-old former guerrilla in power since 2007, announced Nicaragua's withdrawal from the OAS in November 2021.
The regional bloc had condemned his re-election for a fourth consecutive term, with numerous challengers and political opponents detained before the vote.
However, according to protocol, the withdrawal was set to take place over two years, so Nicaragua could complete any pending commitments it might have with the organization.
In March, Nicaragua's then-permanent representative to the OAS Arturo McFields surprised a session of the Permanent Council by denouncing Ortega's government as a "dictatorship" and questioning the circumstances under which his political opponents were arrested.
"I can't understand the government's motivations, but this withdrawal comes one month after my speech at the OAS," McFields told AFP Sunday.
But for him, the withdrawal is "a great moral victory for the Nicaraguan people" and for political prisoners, the release of whom the OAS has repeatedly called for.
The OAS offices, which McFields said are currently operating with a small administrative crew, "have historically been in our country, and were a historic part of peace in Nicaragua," he said.
"The government is closing a door to peace," he added.
The OAS sent a mostly unsuccessful mission to Nicaragua in 2016 to mediate when the opposition accused Ortega of fraud in winning his third consecutive term as president, with his wife Rosario Murillo as vice president.
The organization called on Nicaragua to implement changes to its electoral system, and after a visit from secretary general Luis Almagro, the OAS and Managua signed an agreement in 2017.
But the agreement was derailed after 2018's months-long anti-government protests paralyzed the country and violent repression left 355 people dead, hundreds detained and thousands exiled, according to the OAS' Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
Ortega repeatedly denied OAS representatives entry to Nicaragua to investigate the protests and subsequent crackdown, alleging they were interfering in an internal matter.
And Almagro warned in June 2021, as Ortega's political opponents began to be arrested before the presidential election, that the government could be considered a "dictatorship" because "the exercise of power was not done in accordance with the rule of law."
E.Raimundo--PC