The president of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega, welcomed this Wednesday a call made by his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, that the international community must “create the right conditions” to solve the conflict in Ukraine and “promote peace negotiations from sincerity.”
“The President of the People’s Republic of China, Xi Jinping, has made a call and an approach with a view to a global solution (…) to abandon the Cold War mentality. For all of this we must work together,” said Ortega during an official ceremony to commemorate the Day of National Dignity, held at the Olof Palme Convention Center in Managua.
The Nicaraguan president said that in honor of the national hero Augusto Nicolás Calderón Sandino (1895-1933), known as Sandino, “we tell the international community that we (Nicaragua) welcome this call made by the President of the People’s Republic of China, Xi Jinping, in order to promote security for everyone in the world.”
In his speech, the Sandinista leader indicated “that the world is experiencing a difficult situation” and that “practically what we have is an undeclared world war, because it is not the war of the Russian Federation with Ukraine”.
He also insisted that Russia invaded Ukraine “in order to defend its sovereignty.”
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“The Pope (Francis) wants peace, as we all want peace. We are not happy about any war. but we clearly see how that is no longer a Ukraine-Russia conflict, when the United States is putting billions in modern weaponry there,” he continued.
For Ortega, the Russian offensive in Ukraine “is a war, where NATO is using Ukraine to find a way to strike a blow that strategically weakens Russia.”
“And incidentally, in the midst of this madness, threatening the People’s Republic of China. In other words, it is the madness of a hegemonist policy led by the United States, ”she considered.
Therefore, the president added, “the only way out, the only solution to this war, which is a global war, is dialogue for peace, negotiation for peace.”
Russian President Vladimír Putin has said that Nicaragua is a “very important” partner of Russia in Latin America.
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Since Ortega returned to the presidency in 2007, after having coordinated a Government Junta from 1979 to 1985 and presiding over the country for the first time from 1985 to 1990, Nicaragua and Russia have strengthened their relations in all fields.
Russia, an old ally of Nicaragua, which during the first Sandinista regime (1979-1990) provided the Nicaraguan Armed Forces with Soviet weapons, established diplomatic relations with Managua in 1944.
Nicaragua is one of the few countries, along with Venezuela and the small island states of Nauru and Tuvalu, that have joined Russia in recognizing the independence of the breakaway Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
In addition, at the end of 2020, Nicaragua established a consulate in Crimea, a Ukrainian territory annexed to Russia, which caused the rejection of Ukraine.