The dictatorship of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo, isolated from the international community, continues to strengthen its diplomatic relations with countries far from the Latin American region. This Monday, May 13, the Sandinista government appointed Tatiana Daniela García Silva as the new ambassador of Nicaragua to Turkmenistan, a country located in Central Asia.
Through her afternoon speech in the official media, the vice dictator and spokesperson for the Ortega regime announced that García “will be presenting her credentials next week.”
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Murillo also sent his “greetings” and “recognition” to the Turkmen people and government, especially to his Minister of Foreign Affairs, Rashid Meredovand to the president Serdar Berdimuhamedow.
With the delivery of this new consulate, García Silva is being placed in the “select” group of “super ambassadors” of the Sandinista dictatorship. Before Turkmenistan, García Silva had been appointed as ambassador in Egypt and Türkiye, two diplomatic legations that Ortega stripped from Mohamed Farrara Lashtar, a citizen of Libyan origin and nephew of the disappeared dictator of that country, Muammar Gaddafi, in what seemed to be an attempt of Ortega for getting rid of the burden inherited by Gaddafi, his international benefactor in the 90s, when Ortega was in the opposition and did not work either.
The Nicaraguan official has also worked in the department of technical monitoring of cooperation projects in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Nicaragua (MINREX) and has been deputy director of Ceremonial and Protocol and head of the Directorate of Youth Participation in the Foreign Ministry.
Political situation in Turkmenistan
According to the organization Freedom HouseTurkmenistan “is a repressive authoritarian state, where political rights and civil liberties are practically denied in practice.”
Similar to the situation in Nicaragua, in the Asian country the elections “are tightly controlled, guaranteeing almost unanimous victories for the president and his followers.” The economy is dominated by the state, corruption is systemic, religious groups are persecuted and political dissent is not tolerated.
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Since its independence in 1991, Turkmenistan has been governed by a single political party, the Turkmen Democratic Party, and by leaders who have maintained firm control over all governmental and social aspects.
The president of Turkmenistan, who wields considerable power, is also the head of state and head of the government. Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, who held the presidential chair for 15 years, announced in February 2022 that he would resign. His son, Serdar Berdimuhamedov, was elected in March with almost 73% of the vote, beating eight other candidates whom observers deemed “uncompetitive.”
Since last year, the Nicaraguan regime has “desperately” tried to establish closer diplomatic relations with countries where the United States, the European Union and other international human rights organizations have less influence, thus avoiding criticism of its dictatorial form of government.
