The regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo raised diplomatic tension with the Government of Spainand removed the Nicaraguan ambassador to that European country, Carlos Antonio Midence, from his duties under the argument of an alleged “Interfering pressures and threats” about the Nicaraguan diplomat, the Nicaraguan Foreign Ministry reported this Thursday.
According to a note from the Foreign Ministry, Ambassador Midence would be undergoing “continuous pressure” what “make the exercise of diplomatic work impossible”.
Spanish diplomatic sources explained to the Efe agency that the withdrawal of the Nicaraguan ambassador occurred after the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned Midence, to ask for explanations for Managua’s refusal to return the Spanish ambassador to Nicaragua.
According to the sources, the Secretary of State for Ibero-America and the Caribbean of Spain, Juan Fernández Trigo, expressed his discomfort to Midence, and indicated that the lack of an ambassador in Managua represented an asymmetry in diplomatic relations between the two countries.
Midence is a Nicaraguan diplomat and writer. He was appointed in October 2016 as ambassador of Nicaragua to the Kingdom of Spain, and in February 2020 he was also appointed as ambassador to the Government of the Hellenic Republic, of Greece, as a concurrent ambassador based in the city of Madrid.
months of diplomatic tension
The diplomatic tension between Nicaragua and Spain began a few months ago, due to the illegal arrests of opposition leaders in the context of the voting last November, in which Ortega was re-elected without political competition, against which Spain reacted several times with energetic protests.
One day after those elections, the Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, said that in Nicaragua “there have been no fair, free or competitive elections”and demanded the release of detained opponents and journalists, including seven who aspired to be presidential candidates in those elections.
“The opponents who wanted to compete (in those elections) are in jail right now and we demand their release as we have been doing since August.”when Spain withdrew its ambassador from Managua in protest, Albares pointed out.
On August 11 last year, the Government of Pedro Sánchez called the ambassador for consultations María del Mar Fernández-Palacios in response to a statement published the day before by the Nicaraguan Foreign Ministry that contained, according to the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, “gross falsehoods about judicial and electoral processes” Spanish people.
Regime: “Insolent declarations”
On February 24, the regime complained to the Spanish Foreign Ministry for some “insolent statements” by the Spanish foreign minister about Nicaragua, although it did not specify which ones.
“Given the insolent, anachronistic, outdated statements by the Spanish Foreign Minister, José Manuel Albares, about Nicaragua and the diplomatic functions in this free and sovereign country, we reiterate: Nicaragua is not anyone’s colony,” said the Nicaraguan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in a declaration.
In the press release, the Nicaraguan Foreign Ministry did not indicate which statements they are referring to or when they took place or on what date.
The last time Albares referred to Nicaragua was on January 10, when he demanded the release of the political prisoners of the regime, after a meeting with Antony Blinken, Secretary of State of the United States.
“We are not subjects of the Spanish Crown. We do not accept, therefore, any interference from that or from any country, in our internal affairs, ”he continued.
