The administration of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo made official this Friday, July 14, the appointment of Cesar Augusto Castañeda Lacayo as the new ambassador of Nicaragua to the European Union, based in Brussels, Belgium.
Through presidential agreement 115-2023, published in The Gazette, Ortega appointed Castañeda Lacayo as his representative before the European bloc. Likewise, he appointed him his Head of Mission in the EU and conferred on him the position of representing Managua before the European atomic energy community.
The diplomat was also appointed as extraordinary and plenipotentiary ambassador of the Republic of Nicaragua before the government of the Kingdom of Belgium, according to presidential agreement 112-2023.
Related news: Ortega reverses his decision and ratifies his approval for the EU ambassador in Nicaragua
In this sense, through ministerial agreement 26-2023, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Minrex) annulled the appointment of César Castañeda as Counselor with Consular Functions of the Embassy of Managua in the Kingdom of Belgium, a position he had held since February 2022.
According to his LinkedIn profile, the Ortega official has also served as a cooperation advisor for the Managua Mayor’s Office between 2010 and 2023. In addition, he was a project coordinator for the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization ( UNESCO), from 2007 to 2009.
Tense relationship between Ortega and the EU
Since April 2018, diplomatic relations between the Ortega government and the European Union have been tense because the latter has demanded on multiple occasions that the Executive release the political prisoners, as well as hold free and transparent elections that can restore democracy in the country.
In September 2022, the Ortega dictatorship declared persona “non grata” and expelled from the country bettina muscheidtambassador of the European Union in Nicaragua.
One month after Ortega’s decision, the European Union responded reciprocally by declaring persona non grata to Zoila Mullerhead of the Nicaraguan Mission to the EU.
On April 18, 2023, the Ortega Murillo administration announced the withdrawal of its approval of the designated EU ambassador in Managua in response to his criticism of the repression in the Central American country, on the fifth anniversary of the start of the protests against the sandinista government.
However, this Thursday, July 13, the Ortega regime retracted its decision and ratified the pleat to the ambassador of the European bloc in Nicaragua, fernando ponz Singing.
