The solo visit of the executive president of the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI), Dante Mossi, to Nicaragua, and his obsequious speech in response to the generic words that dictator Daniel Ortega dedicated to him during the previous inauguration of his new headquarters in Managua, reflect the precarious position of the dictatorship within that multilateral entityas well as the close relationship between the two officials.
The original plan to inaugurate the building last December, within the framework of a regional meeting of that entity, was ruined by the decision of ten of its directors (Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Panama, Dominican Republic, Spain, Mexico, Taiwan, and South Korea, plus the joint vote of Argentina and Colombia)considering that the Bank’s image would deteriorate if Mossi appeared in the photo with Ortega.
At that time it was still fresh the continental condemnation of the electoral farce of November of 2021, as well as the rejection of 40 governments of the worldfor considering that the process annulled the options of finding a way out through the vote, to the political crisis of Pinolera.
Three months later, Mossi arrived in Managua and took a photo with Ortega and his wife Rosario Murillo, vice president of his government. And with Gustavo Porras, president of his National Assembly, and with the children of the presidential couple, the Minister of Finance, Iván Acosta; as well as various lower-ranking officials.
If in December, when inaugurating the six-story building, built at a cost of 16.5 million dollars, the regime could have claimed a halo of legitimacy with the arrival of all CABEI directors, this time it could only exhibit its owner, since some members of his office, because the others chose to stay away from Managua, he confirmed to CONFIDENTIAL a high-level source within the Bank.
Thank you for those pretty yellow roses!
Mossi’s first words in public were to thank Ortega and his wife for the “honor” of having returned to the country, because “from the moment you enter you feel the warm reception”. The Bank has received much criticism for turning a blind eye to the government’s repression against Nicaraguan citizens, which did not prevent continue to grant resources to the National Policewhich is the spearhead of that repression.
He also thanked them because two years ago they sent him “a bouquet of yellow roses” to his sickbed, assuring that those flowers were the only ones that were allowed in his room while he was recovering from medical treatment.
“That gave me a lot of hope in the most difficult moment that I had, so thank you very much for that generosity of heart, in the most difficult moment,” he recited.
Then, he thanked the governor appointed by Daniel Ortega to represent him before CABEI, the now sanctioned Minister of Finance and Public Credit, Iván Acosta, for “this joint work”, which concluded with the inauguration of the building “which cements that close relationship that has CABEI with Nicaragua”.
That “close relationship” is manifested in Nicaragua having the “largest and best structured program in all of Central America. Things run fine. The hospitals are really first world. I think that the Nicaraguan people should feel very pleased with the quality of hospitals,” Mossi reiterated.
Next, the head of the multilateral bank listed the sectors in which the most important investments have been made, highlighting “the issue of health”, as well as water and sanitation, because “water is life, sanitation is dignity, and obviously it reduces poverty in Nicaragua”.
Regarding electricity, he applauded that Nicaragua is going to be the second country on the isthmus to cover 100% of its population, also highlighting the envy allegedly told by leaders of the Mosquitia in Honduras, because when they see “the other side of the Coco River” they see progress, and how Nicaragua is becoming more integrated, thanks to the routes financed by CABEI.
In two more years, to drink water from Xolotlán!
Given the limitation that the Bank has to continue granting resources to OrtegaMossi said that “we are about to create the regional debt market” so that Nicaragua can seek resources in the Central American market.
The Honduran official promised that would continue to support some projectssuch as the one that intends to develop the Caribbean port in Bluefields, “which is very important and strategic”, and “also in completing these ambitious connectivity projects throughout the country”, referring to the construction of roads to different points of the Caribbean.
Referring to the “pride” that these results represent for CABEI, the head of that entity referred to the “miracle” of the recovery of Lake Managua, to the extent that “in two years it will be possible to take water, to use it for drinking water of the community, because the sanitation of the communities around the Lake has been done well”.
Reiterating to Ortega again the “pride” he felt in being in Managua, Mossi said that “we really want to understand how we can work better with small businessmen so that the communities get ahead, with the reforestation efforts that his government has, with the Climate Fund”, while promising resources “with very low, very generous interest rates”, to help the people who are in the dry corridor.
“So, president, we come here to listen to your priorities. CABEI is attentive to meeting these demands to the extent that we can. CABEI will always do everything possible to meet the demands of the countries; we are never going to let a country go without funding to meet the needs that the country identifies,” he repeated.
Mossi said goodbye with the same idea with which he began his speech: expressing the “honor” of being in Managua “in your company, in this beautiful Land of Lakes and Volcanoes.”
