On the eve of the Democracy Summit, hosted by US President Joe Biden, to which Nicaragua has not been invited. Two sons of the Nicaraguan rulers, Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo, head a official mission in Russia, whose ultimate goal is to strengthen its relations with the Kremlin.
Laureano Ortega Murillo, presidential advisor for Investments, Trade and International Cooperation, and Rafael Ortega Murillo, presidential delegate, lead the mission together with the Minister of Finance and Public Credit, Iván Acosta, and the ambassador of Managua in Moscow, Alba Torres.
The children of Ortega and Murillo began their work schedule this Monday with a meeting with the Vice Foreign Minister of Russia, Sergei Ryabkov and continued this Tuesday with the signing of a cooperation agreement “with the aim of promoting the peaceful use of applied nuclear technologies. to energy, agriculture and medicine ”, informed the Government of Nicaragua.
In the meeting with the Russian vice chancellor, they addressed “the main issues on the bilateral agenda in the fields: political, economic and commercial,” the Nicaraguan Executive said in a statement. They also met with the representative of the Russia / Nicaragua Mixed Intergovernmental Commission, Veronika Skvortsova, with whom they evaluated “all the projects underway and in prospect”, without specifying the projects.
There was also “a follow-up meeting with the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) with the perspective of expanding cooperation in the supply of Sputnik V and Sputnik Light vaccines for Nicaragua,” the source continued.
Finally, the Nicaraguan delegation also met with the vice president of the General Council of the United Russia Party, Andrey Klimov, “with the aim of strengthening ties with the FSLN party (Sandinista National Liberation Front) through the signing of a cooperation and twinning agreement that is being prepared between the two organizations, ”according to the information.
The Summit of Democracy
Meanwhile, in the Western Hemisphere, President Biden has invited 110 allied governments to what he considers democracies. Leaving out Bolivia, Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador. Regarding the last three, the US Government indicated that they suffer from “some challenges” in terms of democracy.
The appointment scheduled for next December 9 and 10It will also include members of civil society and the private sector, who will have a session with the heads of state, sponsored by Biden himself, and another topic, with the presence of governmental and non-governmental representatives.
Uzra Zeya, undersecretary of Democracy and Human Rights of the State Department, indicated this Tuesday in a press conference prior to the start of this summit, that her country has “several concerns” about the Central American countries that have not been invited. Mainly in matters of “governance” and the fight “against corruption”.
The official said that she would have “wanted” some of these countries to participate in the summit, but stressed that “the focus of the meeting is to work with those governments that have demonstrated their willingness to move forward and make commitments in these areas.”
Nicaragua an ally of Russia
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that Nicaragua is a “very important” partner of Russia in Latin America, and congratulated the Sandinista leader for his supposed “overwhelming victory” in the elections on November 7, and affirmed that he will intensify the “strategic” bilateral cooperation with the Central American country.
Those elections, in which Ortega won with 75.87% of the votes for a fifth and fourth consecutive term, with his main contenders in prison, have not been recognized by the bulk of the international community.
The 51st General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS) considered that the elections “were not free, fair or transparent and do not have democratic legitimacy”; The United States called it a “pantomime”; and the European Union (EU) of “fake”.
On the contrary, among the countries that have congratulated Ortega on his re-election are his allies Bolivia, North Korea, Cuba, Iran, Palestine, Russia, Syria, Venezuela and Vietnam.
With information from Efe.
