After a year and two months without answering the Brazilian president’s phone calls, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silvathe dictator Daniel Ortega He lashed out at someone whom until recently he considered his friend and ally.
The Sandinista leader took advantage of his virtual appearance at the XI Extraordinary Virtual Summit of Heads of State of ALBA-TCP to call Lula
“dragged and traitor.”
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The Nicaraguan dictator used his speech to express his absolute support and solidarity with his counterpart Nicolas Maduroaccused of promoting electoral fraud in the July 28 elections in order to avoid handing over the Presidency, despite the fact that the records held by the opposition and its candidate Edmundo González Maduro give him more than 70% of the votes compared to the ruling party.
Ortega, irritated, came to the defense of the Chavista and expressed his annoyance at the Brazilian president’s request for a repeat election in Venezuela.
“I am convinced that the vast majority of the Latin American people, the peasants, the workers, the youth are with Nicolás Maduro, with the Bolivarian revolution. But servile, traitorous, groveling governments, governments that have presented themselves as very progressive and revolutionary, say that the elections must be repeated. Brazil, Lula, says so,” said a furious Ortega.
«The way you have behaved, Lula, in the face of the victory of the legitimate president of Venezuela (Nicolás Maduro), is shameful. Repeating the slogans of the Yankees, of the Europeans, of the crawling governments of Latin America, you are crawling “Lula too, and don’t tell me that your actions were extraordinary, but also remember the riots, the scandals, remember all that well,” Ortega spat out without detailing what “scandals” he was referring to.
Angry about Lula’s mediation with the Pope
Daniel Ortega’s fury against Lula da Silva has been dragging on since June 2023. The Brazilian declared, on July 22, that since that date the Sandinista withdrew his greeting due to his interest in mediating for the release of the then imprisoned bishop Monsignor Rolando Álvarez.
Lula had been visiting the Vatican for an audience with Pope Francis, where, due to the closeness of the leaders, the supreme pontiff advocated for Álvarez, whom Ortega had arbitrarily deprived of his freedom for a year and two months.
After the meeting, the Brazilian Foreign Ministry tried to establish contact with Ortega, highlighting its interest in a meeting with Lula, who, as the Pope’s emissary, would convey the priest’s request.
Related news: Dictator Daniel Ortega flees from Lula da Silva and does not answer his phone calls
Ortega, explosive, explained that under no circumstances would he accept such communication, because they had not requested any mediation.
«First, if the Pope (Francis) is a State, which is clearly in favor of the empire, and wants to communicate with us, he can do so. We are constantly communicating with them, with the foreign minister (Pietro) Parolin, we have already had several talks with him and we speak to him very clearly, and Parolin listens to us,» argued the Nicaraguan dictator. «We do not need intermediaries, nor did we ask Lula to be an intermediary. We did not respond to Lula and he got upset,» he added.
He accuses Lula of being a dictator
Brazil and Nicaragua have a stormy, tense and distant relationship, which has worsened over the past year with Lula’s involvement in the demand for the release of Ortega’s political prisoners and the constant call to the Sandinista “not to abandon the path of democracy.”
The former FSLN leader did not remain silent on this issue either. The ALBA-TCP platform used it to make Lula look like a dictator. He does not hide the fact that it hurts him to be compared to the Somozas and that internationally it is pointed out that his regime has far surpassed a despotic, dictatorial and cruel family that the Sandinistas themselves defeated with weapons.
Related news: Lula calls for the publication of the electoral records for “resolve the dispute» in Venezuela
“What can I say to you, Lula, since you have spoken about this publicly? How many terms have you been in government? You have been in government for two terms. In other words, it seems that you like being president and that great presidency of that great country that is Brazil, you want to become the representative of the Yankees in Latin America. That is why we broke relations with Brazil,” Ortega attacked.
“Remember Lula, and I could mention a dozen other things. If you want me to respect you, respect me first, Lula. If you want the Bolivarian people to respect you, respect the victory of President Nicolás Maduro and don’t go groveling,” reiterated the Nicaraguan, accused of crimes against humanity.
Without ambassadors
At the beginning of August 2024, both Brazil and Nicaragua announced the withdrawal of their ambassadors. First, Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo became irritated with the Brazilian ambassador to Nicaragua, Breno De Souza Brasil Dias Da Costa, for not joining the event for the 45th anniversary of the Sandinista popular revolution, an event that is of a partisan political nature.
On July 25, a week after the event, she was notified that she had to leave the country. In return, Brasilia expelled the Nicaraguan ambassador to the South American country, Fulvia Patricia Castro. Rosario Murillo herself confirmed the breakup and assured that the rejected ambassador would take over the post of Minister of Family Economy, her consolation prize for her loyalty.
It is unknown at what diplomatic level relations between the two nations are maintained.
