The dictatorship of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo “is committed to Africanizing the foreign relations” of Nicaragua by approaching countries on that continent, said the former ambassador of Nicaragua to the Organization of American States (OAS), Arturo McFields.
The former rebel diplomat of the dictatorship told Article 66 that for the first time the regime has appointed a series of ambassadors to whom it assigned diplomatic headquarters in the countries of the African continent.
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«Ortega is betting on the Africanization of Nicaragua’s foreign relations. “He is assigning more ambassadors than ever to the African region, but also the concept of vision of Africa is in Ortega’s mind and heart,” he noted.
«Africa has given away, surrendered its sovereignty and natural resources to China and Russia and, it is in that part, that (Daniel) Ortega is betting on the Africanization of relations. Africa has given up all its precious resources, ports and airports to China and Russia. There is an enormous debt and the only way to pay that debt is through sovereignty. In this framework, Ortega has strengthened his relationship with Africa,” he added.
McFields stated that the Ortega-Murillos are betting on having a greater presence in Africa to promote charter flights for migrants to the United States and “promote illegal migration.”
“It is easier for Ortega to promote this irregular migration by having these foreign agents (ambassadors or consuls) in Africa,” McFields explained.
Héctor Mairena, Unamos secretary of international relations, assured that the Ortega Murillo family’s foreign policy has been reactive, because it reacts to the international community’s rejection of their regime for the violation of human rights and the destruction of democracy in Nicaragua.
“Foreign policy has been marked by taking refuge in relations with Russia, China and Iran, at the same time it has lowered the minimum level of relations with countries as important as Germany where the embassy has closed,” said Mairena.
Nicaragua has established diplomatic relations with countries that do not represent any economic interest for Nicaragua and that only respond to the political interests of the dictatorship, he stated.
«Diplomatic relations between states are marked by political tradition, economic interests and mutual benefit. In this case, the Ortega Murillos act only by seeking to strengthen diplomatic relations with those countries that, many of them distant, have a full ideological identity such as North Korea, Russia, Cuba or Venezuela,” he said.
Mairena concluded by saying that this type of relationship does not benefit the Nicaraguan population at all, and only serves as a shield for the isolation that the dictatorship has at the international level.
Since the last months of 2023, Ortega has established embassies in various African countries and has appointed several Ortega supporters who control the regime’s headquarters.
