The Nicaraguan Army reported this Wednesday that it participated in the V China-Latin America Defense Forum, and its chief, General Julio César Avilés Castillo, declared in his message that the Nicaraguan Armed Forces have “the full right to have relations with friendly nations like the People’s Republic of China.
“The impositions are unacceptable,” said the Nicaraguan military chief during his speech at that virtual forum, according to a press release from the Nicaraguan Army.
Avilés, 66 years old and head of the Nicaraguan Armed Forces since 2010, was sanctioned on May 22, 2020 by the US Department of the Treasury, together with the Nicaraguan Minister of Finance, Iván Acosta, for allegedly participating in acts of corruption and for helping to “silence” pro-democratic voices in the Central American country.
Also for his significant support for the “regime” of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, to “repress and dismantle the democratic institutions” of Nicaragua.
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According to the State Department, as head of the Armed Forces, Avilés gave “support” to the paramilitary groups that attacked those who began to demonstrate against Ortega in April 2018, which has been rejected by the Army.
During the forum, Avilés, founder of the extinct Sandinista Popular Army (EPS), maintained that “Nicaragua is the safest country in the region” and that “respect for sovereignty, independence and national self-determination are factors of stability between nations”.
“Respect between nations and their peaceful and harmonious relations are determining factors in expanding spheres of cooperation for the benefit of the development and well-being of the peoples,” said the military chief.
Avilés said that they are “of the firm opinion that mutually beneficial bilateral cooperation is the correct path to promote stability, trust and peace.”
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In addition, he thanked the Minister of National Defense of the People’s Republic of China, Colonel General Wei Fenghe, for the invitation to this virtual forum, as well as the authorities of the National Defense University of the People’s Liberation Army, which organized the V Forum of China-Latin America Defense.
President Ortega appointed Avilés, a prominent former Sandinista guerrilla, for the first time as commander-in-chief of the Army in November 2009, replacing General Omar Halleslevens, who was Nicaragua’s vice president from 2012 to 2017.
Avilés was chief of the General Staff since 2005, head of the Military Intelligence and Counterintelligence Directorate (1998-2005) and carried out military studies in Cuba. He is born in the municipality of Jinotepe, 40 kilometers south of Managua.
Nicaragua reestablished diplomatic relations with China last December, after 31 years of maintaining them with Taiwan, which the Asian giant considers a rebellious island.
