Daniel Ortega charged this Monday against his Argentine counterpart, Alberto Fernández, whom he demanded to release the 14 Venezuelans detained in Argentina and return the Venezuelan-Iranian plane held in that South American country for possible links with international terrorism.
During an act on the occasion of the 42nd anniversary of the Nicaraguan Naval Force, Ortega said that Fernández “is playing a more shameful, sadder, more degrading role than the one played” by the OAS Secretary General, the Uruguayan Luis Almagro, ” which is openly an instrument of the gringos”.
The Sandinista leader accused Fernández of “betraying” the principles of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), which is chaired by the Argentine ruler, who, he said, has become “an instrument of the Yankee empire.”
“Since when did Argentina cease to be independent and now responds to US laws, to US judges, and to persecution by the United States? Since when?” asked Ortega, who called the moment “painful.”
According to Ortega, the crew “kidnapped” in Argentina, made up of 14 Venezuelans and 5 Iranians, as well as the plane, are being held “simply because the Yankees order it from Washington and (Argentina) washes its hands saying: that is a matter of of Justice”.
“I did not know that the Argentine Justice was now submitting to the dictates of the Yankee empire,” he continued.
Ortega: It’s embarrassing to be in CELAC
For Ortega, “it really is a sad, painful moment” for Latin America, “because with a president like that, in CELAC, it is ashamed to be in CELAC.”
“I don’t know what end Celac will have if Argentina doesn’t have the decency and the honor not to submit to the empire,” he added.
He added that Argentina “can only prove it by immediately releasing the Venezuelan brothers who have them imprisoned there, as if Argentina were a district of Miami, of the United States.”
Also “returning the plane to its true owners, who are not the Yankees, but the State of Venezuela,” he said.
Ortega insisted that it is a “painful moment, a sad moment” and that he personally does not feel “represented in Celac already in the actions of the person who presides over Celac, who is the president of Argentina.”
At the ceremony, he said that he has the hope and confidence that “the Argentine people will know how to defend the honor of Argentina and will know how to recognize the right that corresponds to the Venezuelan people.”
Likewise, he expressed solidarity with the families “of those who are detained in Argentina, with President Nicolás Maduro and with all the Venezuelan people who are always fighting this fight against the empire, because it is the empire that is there.”
The charge d’affaires of Argentina in Nicaragua, Minister Jorge F. Stevens, was present at the activity.
Last Thursday, an Argentine judge authorized, at the request of the US Justice, that the plane, held since June at the Ezeiza international airport, on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, be seized by representatives of the FBI and the Security Police. Airport.
The US alleges that the aircraft is subject to sanctions, since its transfer by the Iranian company Mahan Air to Emtrasur violates the export laws of the North American nation.
