President Daniel Ortega begins his fifth term in Nicaragua on January 10, the fourth consecutive and second together with his wife, Rosario Murillo, as vice president, supported by China, Russia, Venezuela and Cuba, and isolated from the United States (USA). .) and the European Union (EU), which on the eve they have sanctioned two of their children, officials of their Government and State institutions.
Ortega, 76, has ruled without checks in Nicaragua since 2007 and this afternoon the presidential sash will be imposed again as a result of elections without political competition, which have been rejected by the international community and the Nicaraguan opposition. Consequently, the new period of Government, which is about to begin, is considered “illegitimate.”
“Today begins a totally and clearly illegitimate and illegal period (of government), coming from an electoral process that did not meet any of the essential requirements of legitimacy and that, on the contrary, was rejected by 80% of the population that it did not participate, as well as the international community – a total of 57 countries – which have underlined the undemocratic and illegitimate nature of this process and its results ”, denounced the Blue and White National Unity (UNAB) in a press release.
Regardless of the will of the Nicaraguans, the president of the National Assembly, the Sandinista Gustavo Porras, will take the promise of law from Ortega and Murillo in a ceremony to be held in the afternoon in the Plaza de la Revolución, in Managua. , one day after it was established the new National Assembly, where the ruling party controls 75 of the 91 seats.
Díaz-Canel in Nicaragua
Few government delegations confirmed their participation in the inauguration ceremony of Ortega and Murillo, but the President of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel, was the first to arrive at the Augusto C. Sandino airport in Managua and praise the triumph of the Sandinista leader.
Ortega’s “is a victory not only for Nicaragua, it is a victory that also has enormous significance for the forces of the left, and for the progressive governments of Latin America and the Caribbean, it is a victory that also demonstrates the anti-imperialist conviction of the people. Nicaraguan ”, said the Cuban president at the airport.
Díaz-Canel was received by the director of the Nicaraguan Social Security Institute (INSS), Roberto López, sanctioned by the United States for “human rights abuses, electoral fraud and corruption ”.
Simultaneously, the EU approved new sanctions on Monday against Camila Ortega Murillo and Laureno Ortega Murillo, both sons of the Nicaraguan leaders, and against five other people close to the regime, as well as against three entities in the country. The US also announced new sanctions on Monday against six charges of the Nicaraguan government.
Meanwhile, the governments of the United Kingdom and Canada warned that it could take new measures against the “oppressive regime” of President Ortega and applauded the new sanctions announced by the EU and the United States as a form of pressure for the Nicaraguan authorities to “restore democracy. and respect human rights ”.
Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mélanie Joly, declared in a statement that both the presidential elections of November 7 and the inauguration of the president held today do not have “democratic legitimacy.”
“This growing authoritarianism must end. The rule of law and the rights of the Nicaraguan people must be respected, and free and fair elections must be restored, ”said Vicky Ford, Minister for Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean of the United Kingdom Foreign Office.
The United Kingdom “supports the sanctions package announced today by the United States and the European Union. We will continue to express our concerns to the Government, calling on Nicaragua to comply with its international obligations and respect the human rights of its citizens and putting an end to the repression in the country, “Ford added.
Mexico will send a representative at the last minute
Hours before the inauguration ceremony of Ortega and Murillo, the president of Mexico, Andrés López Obrador, considered that it would be “unwise” for his government not to send any representative to Nicaragua and sent a last-minute representative.
“It has not been decided yet. When is the inauguration? Today? He did not know. We will see if there is time for it to arrive, because we have good relations with everyone, and we do not want to be reckless, “said the president during his morning press conference from the National Palace.
He reiterated that “yes (it would be imprudent not to send a representative) because we cannot put aside our policy of self-determination of the peoples and of independence,” he said.
The Ministry of Foreign Relations (SER) announced on Sunday that Martín Borrego, director of South America, would attend the Nicaraguan presidential inauguration. However, shortly after the inauguration ceremony, the SRE announced the cancellation of Mexico’s participation, after the regional director of Human Rights Watch, José Miguel Vivanco, condemned the decision.
“No official from the Mexican Foreign Ministry will attend the protest in Nicaragua. We have the meeting of ambassadors and consuls ”, it was indicated in a chat.
However, this Monday, in his conference, López Obrador reported that it will be Ramiro Ayala, head of the Foreign Ministry at the Mexican embassy in Nicaragua, who represents the country at the investiture ceremony.
“At once I am going to say, he is the business manager, because we do not have an ambassador, but we are going to ask the approval of the Nicaraguan Government because he is going to be an ambassador in Nicaragua (…) Guillermo Zamora, by the way a journalist”, advertisement.
The expectations of the regime
Murillo announced In the past week that Ortega’s new inauguration will be witnessed by representatives of Argentina, Belize, Belarus, Bolivia, Cambodia, China, Cuba, Egypt, Honduras, India, Iran, Laos, Malaysia, Mexico, Palestine, Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, Turkey, Venezuela, Vietnam and Yemen.
China, Ortega’s new ally, who broke relations with Taiwan after almost 15 years in a row in power, will be represented by Cao Jianming, vice president of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (ANP, the Chinese Legislative), as envoy President Xi Jinping’s Special.
The Iranian delegation will be led by the Vice President of Economic Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Moshen Rezai, while Russia has not announced who will represent him.
Meanwhile, the Government of Alberto Fernández clarified that it will not send any representative of Argentina to the inauguration of Ortega and Murillo and argued that there was a confusion in some statements that their ambassador, Daniel Capitanich, gave to the newspaper La Prensa, in the which claimed otherwise.
Protests in exile
Various Nicaraguan opposition organizations have protested in several countries under the slogan “Nicaragua does not have a government or legitimate powers of the State,” in rejection of the inauguration of Ortega and Murillo.
This Sunday they registered demonstrations against the regime in Germany, the United States and Costa Rica.
For their part, a group of almost 70 Nicaraguan organizations from inside and outside the country, and people living in different parts of the world, elected the National Council for Democratic Transition to confront the Ortega-Murillo regime. These organizations also signed a unity agreement.
Meanwhile, the General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS) last November approved a resolution declaring that the elections, in which Ortega and Murillo were re-elected, lacked “democratic legitimacy” and were neither free nor fair. , nor transparent.
The Sandinista government accused the hemispheric body of “interference” and denounced the OAS Charter, its founding document signed in 1948, a process that will take two years for its withdrawal from the entity to take effect.
With information from EFE.
