Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega held a meeting in Managua with Iran’s Vice President for Economic Affairs, Mohsen Rezai, who gave his support to “defeat North American imperialism”; amid the controversy with Argentina, which condemned his presence in the fifth and fourth consecutive inauguration of the former Sandinista guerrilla as president.
Rezai is one of those charged by the Argentine Justice for a terrorist attack on July 18, 1994, against the Jewish Mutual Association Israelite Argentina (AMIA) of Buenos Aires, which left 85 dead and remains unpunished.
The Executive reported in the government media that Ortega and his wife, “Comrade Rosario Murillo, vice president of Nicaragua, held a meeting with the delegation of the Islamic Republic of Iran, which attended on January 10 the swearing-in of the people as president.”
“We are together on this path. We have every willingness to collaborate and cooperate so that we can defeat North American imperialism, and that is our duty as brothers, our obligation as brothers, to come and cooperate together, we consider it our obligation to be here with you, “said Rezai, who led the Iranian delegation.
The Nicaraguan authorities did not inform the date of the meeting, nor the issues discussed, however on the eve, the first lady also stated that Nicaragua and Iran were discussing a cooperation agreement.
For his part, Razai attributed the meeting to political reasons. “When we realized that the United States has started a threat against you, we felt an obligation of ours to come here and declare that Iran is with Nicaragua and that Iran is with Nicaragua. Good friends have to accompany each other in conditions like this, ”the Iranian official remarked.
Last Tuesday, the Argentine Foreign Ministry issued a statement in which “the Argentine Republic expresses its strongest condemnation of the presence of Mohsen Rezai at the inauguration of the President of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega.”
According to the Foreign Ministry note, his presence in Managua constitutes for the Government of Alberto Fernández “an affront to the Argentine Justice and to the victims of the brutal terrorist attack.”
They point to Interpol
This Thursday, the Argentine government questioned that Interpol did not detain him in Nicaragua, despite the fact that a red arrest alert hangs over him.
“We would have to ask Interpol why it did not know that it was going to be there or why it did not carry out the arrest that it had to carry out,” said the spokeswoman for the presidency, Gabriela Cerruti, at a press conference on Thursday.
“It was more up to Interpol than to the Argentine intelligence services to resolve this situation,” the spokeswoman commented.
Argentina had already repudiated, last August, the appointment of Rezai to a post of the Iranian Executive, which it described as an “affront” against justice and the victims “of the brutal terrorist attack” against the AMIA.
Both political leaders and the Jewish community in Argentina have raised their voices for the actions of the Argentine ambassador in Nicaragua, Daniel Capitanich, and the Argentine government regarding Rezai’s presence last Monday during Ortega’s inauguration.
As Cerruti said this Thursday, Capitanich “did not know the face” of Rezai, “he was not in the same room” and “did not know that he had been invited”, but “found out the next day” from the press.
Iranian delegation
In his meeting with Ortega, Rezai was accompanied by a delegation of at least six Iranian officials, according to official information.
Among his companions were Reza Nazar Aharí, advisor to the foreign minister and director general for America of the Iranian Foreign Ministry; the senior adviser to the Vice President for Economic Affairs, Mohammad Bagher Khodadadí; in addition to the head of Protocol and Program of the Travel of the Presidency of the Republic, Mohammad Said Najafí.
He was also accompanied by the person in charge of Airport Protocol and Flight affairs, Amin Sharí; the Iranian Ambassador to Nicaragua, Majid Salehi; and the minister counselor of the diplomatic headquarters, Parviz Mansouri Asl, indicated the Executive.
