The Nicaraguan government announced the rupture of diplomatic relations with the Netherlands after accusing it of “interfering, interventionist and neo-colonialist” for suspending financing to a hospital in the country’s Caribbean.
The announcement late on Friday was made by Foreign Minister Denis Moncada, Minister of Foreign Affairs, through a press release.
The letter was released hours after President Daniel Ortega addressed the country in a speech, the second in two days, in which he described the European country as “human misery.”
According to Ortega, the Dutch ambassador met with Foreign Minister Moncada on Thursday “and after a speech that was overwhelming for the dignity of our people, he announced that they were not going to build a public hospital that they had promised for several years.”
The president affirmed that the authorities of the European country “had not laid a single stone, not a single brick, and only issued threats and threats.” He did not offer any other details.
“And what have we said to the ambassador, and what do we say to that government: Gentlemen, ladies, here in this land, whoever comes here to disrespect our people, our Homeland, well, don’t let him do it again! to appear in Nicaragua and we do not want relations with that interventionist government… all its miseries that are going to shout outside,” Ortega settled.
Ortega’s decision comes amid an escalation of actions that has reached the diplomatic corps in the country. First, the Vatican representative in Managua, Nuncio Waldemar Sommertag, was abruptly expelled. The president also withdrew the approval of Hugo Rodríguez, nominated by President Joe Biden to be Washington’s ambassador to Nicaragua.
Ortega referred on Friday to the ratification of Rodríguez by the United States Senate and reiterated that they would not allow his entry into the country and has accused him of interfering.
The president assured that Rodríguez was coming to Nicaragua as “William Walker to take over” the country.
“That’s how he spoke before the Senate, so we immediately said: Get out, get out, stay out, and out there keep shouting whatever you want, but here on Nicaraguan land our flag is respected!” Ortega said.
Analysts view with concern what they describe as “the radicalization” of Ortega, alleging that self-isolation could have repercussions on Nicaraguan citizens. Many of them have been migrating since 2018, in the wake of anti-government protests that left more than 300 dead and a political crisis that remains unresolved.
“Ortega is already a radioactive figure. For whatever reason, his strategy is to add enemies to his list,” he told the VOA the director of Latin America of the Wilson Center, Benjamin Gedan. He also warned that the Sandinista president is no longer only at war with the country’s political opposition, civil society and Nicaragua’s business community.
“There is no political strategy here, just a brutal and angry tyrant willing to turn his country into North Korea if that is what it takes to stay in power,” Gedan concludes.
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