The former Vice President of the Government of Spain, Pablo Iglesias, directed strong criticism towards the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo, pointing out that the country is experiencing a process of “undeniable degradation”.
“I think that in the Nicaraguan case there has been an undeniable degradation, as many old Sandinistas point out, this is how it is and it must be said without complexes from the left,” Iglesias told the Uruguayan newspaper La Diaria.
Related news: Spanish leftist party Podemos distances itself from the Ortega dictatorship
Iglesias, visiting the southern country invited by the Broad Front (a leftist coalition that led Tabaré Vázquez and José Mujica to the presidency), assured that there are differences between what is happening in Venezuela and Nicaragua.
“I don’t even think that Venezuela and Nicaragua can be put in the same bag, because they are two very different processes,” Iglesias said when asked if there is a new Latin American left distanced from the authoritarianism of Ortega and Nicolás Maduro.
The also founder and former leader of the leftist coalition United We Can (which is part of the current Spanish Executive together with the Socialist Party) explained that “he does not like” what is seen from Nicaragua.
«Now I can be enormously critical of what is happening in Nicaragua, where I do not like what I see, or complicate what is happening in Venezuela, because I believe that the religious interpretations of “everything is good, everything is bad” do not lead us nowhere, the same with respect to the Cuban experience, but without ever falling into the issues on which the adversary wants to make you discuss not because he gives a damn about the state of human rights in those countries, but because it is an artifact to harm the left”, pointed out the also political scientist.
Podemos, critical of Ortega
The Podemos party, which is led by the left-wing coalition Unidos Podemos, has been critical of the authoritarian drift undertaken by the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo.
They have also issued various statements calling for an end to the growing repression in the country and the release of people imprisoned for political reasons in Nicaragua.
“From Podemos we want to reiterate our support for the Nicaraguan people, particularly for the people and human rights organizations affected by this drift, and we urge the Government of Nicaragua to find ways of dialogue with civil society, put an end to the repression of critical voices and investigate and purge responsibilities for the crimes committed during the 2018 protests and later,” the left-wing party said in a statement dated July 2021.
