Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega sought to downplay the recent sanctions imposed by the United States against three of its judicial officials who annulled the nationality of their critics when meeting on Wednesday in Managua with the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov.
“The United States sanctioned three judges because they have applied justice against the terrorists. We already have hundreds of comrades sanctioned, that no longer causes us any fear, no concern for our comrades who are sanctioned,” the president stressed in a very brief meeting held with Lavrov.
The officials that Washington sanctioned this Wednesday are magistrates Ernesto Leonel Rodríguez Mejía, Octavio Ernesto Rothschuh Andino and judge Nadia Camila Tardencilla Rodríguez, all accused of having colluded to strip dozens of Ortega’s opponents of their nationality.
For his part, the Russian foreign minister stressed that “people who are under sanctions in Russia think that this is recognition of their progress in protecting Russia’s interests.”
On the other hand, the Russian diplomat who made a stopover in Managua from Venezuela, stressed that in Nicaragua five years have passed since 2018 when the protests against Ortega arose, which were violently contained, leaving more than 300 dead, however Lavrov said that ” It is a great advance that the Nicaraguan people have protected their right to independence”.
“We hope that all of Nicaragua’s development will be based on the decisions of the people and not on outside interference,” said the diplomat.
Ortega charges against the EU
Ortega also took advantage of the visit of the Russian foreign minister to attack the European Union, which has been critical of Moscow for the invasion of Ukraine and said that it had suspended the ban on the ambassador of this bloc for having committed what he called “an aggression against the country.” for speaking out on the fifth anniversary of the political crisis.
“The European Union issued a statement accusing that by this time we had committed crimes, that is, wanting to teach lessons… given the circumstances, we withdrew the ambassador’s favor,” Ortega said.
According to a statement by the Russian government, the visit of the senior Russian diplomat also had to do with discussing bilateral cooperation issues, however no further information was leaked in this regard.
Connect with the Voice of America! Subscribe to our channel Youtube and activate notifications, or follow us on social networks: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
