Daniel Ortega attacks Lula da Silva for his position on Venezuelan elections

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega lashed out at his Brazilian counterpart Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, whom he described as “draggled” for his stance on the July elections in Venezuela, whose official results remain questioned by the opposition and the international community.

“The way you have behaved, Lula, in the face of the victory of the legitimate president of Venezuela is shameful. Shameful! Repeating the slogans of the Yankees, of the Europeans, of the groveling governments of Latin America. You are groveling too, Lula! And don’t tell me that your actions were extraordinary,” Ortega said on Monday during the XI Extraordinary Summit of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Peoples of America (ALBA), held virtually.

Ortega is one of Maduro’s main allies and one of the few leaders who have recognized the socialist leader’s controversial victory.

Venezuela’s elections have been under scrutiny by several Latin American countries after the opposition led by leader María Corina Machado and presidential candidate Edmundo González denounced that according to the minutes they have, Nicolás Maduro would have lost, despite the official results issued by the National Electoral Council (CNE).

Lula da Silva has joined in objections to the election results, saying that “Maduro knows he owes the world an explanation” following the CNE’s refusal to publish the minutes that would prove the supposed victory.

Relations between Brazil and Nicaragua, once long-time allies, have progressively deteriorated as the socio-political crisis in Managua has progressed.

Ortega defends expulsion of Brazilian ambassador in Managua

In early August, Nicaragua broke off diplomatic relations with Brazil by expelling its ambassador over Lula da Silva’s failed efforts to mediate the political crisis in the Central American country.

According to Ortega, the conflict arose after Pope Francis asked the Brazilian president to advocate for the release of the Bishop Rolando Alvarez, currently released from prison and exiled to Rome.

“One day he went to visit Pope Lula, and then they called from the Brazilian Foreign Ministry and they were asking… he wanted to talk to me because he had a message from the Pope. We spoke very clearly. We didn’t need intermediaries and we didn’t ask Lula to be an intermediary. We didn’t answer Lula and he got upset,” Ortega said.

Nicaragua has been experiencing a socio-political crisis since 2018, when protests against President Ortega’s government erupted.

The Nicaraguan president, who calls himself leftist, has lost socialist political allies in Latin America, such as Gustavo Petro in Colombia and Gabriel Boric in Chile.

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