The deputies of the National Assembly, at the service of the Ortega-Murillo dictatorship, unanimously ratified this Tuesday two cooperation agreements with the pro-Russian regime of Belarus, one for mutual cooperation in customs matters and another for credit facilities for the export of goods.
By Legislative Decree number 8887, published in La Gaceta, Official Gazette number 154, on August 21, the deputies subordinate to Ortega approved the agreement between the Nicaraguan regime and its dictatorial counterpart in Belarus on “cooperation and mutual assistance in customs matters.”
According to the recitals of the parliamentary decree, the aim of this agreement is to “strengthen the traditional ties of friendship between the peoples and governments of the Republic of Nicaragua and Belarus” so that the respective customs authorities may seek “new avenues focused on the comprehensive control of the movement of goods, transport and people, without restricting or limiting the legitimate facilitation of international trade.”
Related news: Ortega dictatorship signs economic and trade agreement with Belarus, a satellite country of Russia
The agreement was signed by representatives of the Belarusian dictatorship and representatives of the Nicaraguan regime on July 18. Ortega has given importance to these commitments, however, trade with that country is limited. Belarus does not even appear as a minor trading partner of Nicaragua in the statistics of the Central Bank of Nicaragua (BCN).
The agreement signed by the Ortega and Lukashenko dictatorships, among other aspects, establishes “mechanisms for the exchange of information and surveillance of merchandise, imported and exported between both countries,” and will maintain special surveillance “on merchandise transported by persons who, according to information from the requesting customs authority, committed a customs crime or are suspected of having committed one.”
In the same Official Gazette on Wednesday, Legislative Decree 8888 was published, with which Ortega’s political operators in the National Assembly ratified an addendum to the agreement on “granting export credits.”
Related news: Nicaragua will receive military machinery and equipment from Belarus through a multimillion-dollar loan
This agreement was also signed by the two dictatorships on July 18. After this change, it now states that “the private lender authorizes SA Development Bank of the Republic of Belarus to provide the borrower (Nicaragua) with credit in euros, US dollars, Russian rubles, Belarusian rubles and Chinese yuan to finance the supply of goods under the export contract.”
“We have been working with our brothers in Belarus on supply programs, machinery, technology and manufacturing from Belarus for Nicaragua and on plans for the formation and installation of joint companies that can offer these products to the Nicaraguan and Central American markets,” Laureano “El Chigüin” Ortega Murillo recently stated to the regime’s propaganda media.
The Ortega regime has sought to strengthen political and supposedly commercial ties with satellite countries of China and Russia, however, Nicaragua’s main trading partner remains the United States.