Leftist President Daniel Ortega on Wednesday criticized the upcoming summit of the Summit of the Americas, which will take place in June in Los Angeles, California, amid strong polarization in the region, according to experts.
In a public event in honor of the national hero Augusto C. Sandino, Ortega referred to the recent controversy about the participation or not of countries such as Nicaragua, Cuba and Venezuela.
“It seems that there is a king there and that he decides when we meet and when we do not meet, and that the king decides who he invites and who he does not invite, to his conspiracies,” Ortega said, referring to the president of the United States, Joe Biden , who has imposed sanctions on the inner circle of the Nicaraguan president.
“It’s a shame what the rulers are doing yankees with this summit, which they call the Summit of the Americas. We have to make ourselves respected, we cannot be asking the Yankee, or begging him, that we want to go to his summit. We are not stimulated by his summit, ”said Ortega.
He was also grateful to countries such as Chile, Honduras and Mexico that requested that Managua not be excluded from the forum, although he finally insulted the call.
“We understand the concerns and attitudes of Latin American governments… but, I tell the Yankee from here: we are not interested in going to that summit.” Daniel Ortega
Proposes to unify CELAC
While criticizing the forum, Ortega took the opportunity to affirm his affinity for the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC)made up of 32 countries in which the United States and Canada are not found.
“That summit does not exalt anyone, rather it dirty, muddy, we have to defend ourselves (…) so that they respect us, not forgetting that we have CELAC, that we have a powerful instrument,” he said.
“Those who want to come will come, the same as the United States, the same as Canada, we are from CELAC to invite them, but it is not that they are going to start telling CELAC we cannot go because there are such and such countries, then what a world we are in, the show that the Yankee rulers are giving with this famous summit that they call the Summit of the Americas is really a shame.”
US diplomatic efforts
A delegation of high-ranking US officials met on Wednesday in Mexico with the government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador, amid controversy over the attendance and preparations for the summit.
“The dialogue is very good and I think the meeting was positive,” Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said shortly after the meeting in a video posted on Twitter.
The meeting was attended by the US ambassador to Mexico, Ken Salazar and Christopher Dodd, special adviser to President Joe Biden for the summit.
The meeting took place after the protest of Mexico for the controversial indications of Washington about leaving the representations of Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba out of the forum. The United States has said that the measure responds to the fact that these countries “do not respect the Democratic Charter of the Americas.”
The White House reported Wednesday that it has not finished drawing up the list of invitees to the summit, according to the new spokeswoman, Karine Jean-Pierre, when asked by reporters at the press conference.
Speech “to motivate the masses”
After concluding his speech, opponents of President Ortega analyzed his position on the Summit of the Americas and separately concluded that it was a “double standard” message in order to motivate his followers.
“The dictatorship once again expresses public rejection of the ’empire’ to later try desperate silent and private arrangements. I’m not surprised. The message is to motivate a mass that is increasingly dissatisfied, divided and thirsty for empty promises,” he said on Twitter. Nicaraguan former diplomat at the OAS, Arturo McFields.
In a past interview with VOAMcFields said that within the government of President Ortega there were officials like him, who are “dissatisfied” with the president’s decisions, but affirmed that out of fear, many prefer to remain silent.
For her part, the Nicaraguan opposition activist, Ana Quirós, told the VOA via telephone that although on the one hand he expresses a hard face and who cares little about exclusion, in practice “he has sought agreements with the United States using his son Laureano.”
“He says that he does not care about the US decision but he sends his son as a beggar asking for the sanctions to be lifted. If I don’t care about someone, I won’t waste my time asking them for something,” the opponent told the VOA.
Quirós said that Ortega’s reaction shows that the possible exclusion hurts him, although he assured that “he would not have attended” for fear of citizen demonstrations.
“In other countries it cannot repress as it does in Nicaragua,” he concluded.
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