Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega appointed Mohamed Mohamed Ferrara Lashtar, a US-sanctioned Nicaraguan-nationalized Libyan citizen, as his new ambassador to Tunisia, reported this Friday the Official Gazette La Gaceta.
Through presidential agreement 20-2023, Ortega appointed Ferrara Lashtar, who is Nicaraguan adviser minister and delegate for Africa, the Middle East and Arab countries, in the position of extraordinary and plenipotentiary ambassador of the Republic of Nicaragua before the Government of the Republic Tunisian, as a competitor based in the State of Kuwait.
The Nicaraguan Executive reported this appointment to the National Assembly, where the Sandinistas have an absolute majority, for its due ratification.
On November 15, 2021the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the United States Department of the Treasury sanctioned the Nicaraguan Public Ministry and nine Nicaraguan government officials, including Ferrara Lashtar, in response to the farce of national elections in November 7 of that year, in which Ortega was re-elected along with his wife, Rosario Murillo, as vice president, with his main contenders in prison.
The US indicated that Ferrara Lashtar is the Nicaraguan ambassador to Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
“Lashtar has been designated because of his character as an official of the Government of Nicaragua or for having served as an official of the Government of Nicaragua at some point after January 10, 2007,” when Ortega returned to power, said the US Department of the Treasury. .UU, after imposing the sanction.
Libyan spy in Nicaragua since 1980
According to the documents leaked by WikiLeaks, Ferrara Lashtar is the nephew of the late Libyan dictator Muammar Gadhafi and was linked to his uncle’s intelligence services since the 1980s of the last century.
The then US ambassador in Managua, Paul Trivelli, wrote at least four dispatches on the case in 2007, when Ortega took office and appointed him secretary and private adviser for international affairs for Nicaragua, with the rank of ambassador.
The 63-year-old Nicaraguan nationalized Libyan arrived in Nicaragua during the first Sandinista government (1979-1990) and, in addition to being from Ortega’s circle, he is a prominent businessman and was a substitute deputy for the Sandinistas before the Central American Parliament (Parlacen). .
Ferrara Lashtar was manager of the Libyan Arab Nicaraguan Agricultural Company (Anilib), founded in 1983 with Libyan-Nicaraguan capital.
