United States Ambassador Kevin Sullivan will leave Nicaragua on May 19. He spent four and a half years in the Central American country. He arrived in the midst of the sociopolitical crisis that has spread since 2018 and has declared himself “enchanted” by Nicaraguan gastronomy. The diplomat will be replaced by Kevin O’Reilly, who was appointed chargé d’affaires, after Hugo Rodríguez, ambassador-designate for Managua, withdrew from the placet.
Even before arriving in the country, he revealed, in a presentation video released by the embassy of the North American country, that he was eager to try the traditional Nicaraguan dish of gallopinto. He also ate bay horse with his wife, according to a photo he posted on his Twitter account.
“The time has come, after more than 4 years in Nicaragua, to start saying goodbye. It will not be easy for us after all that we have experienced together, and all the support and affection that we have felt from Nicaraguans,” Sullivan wrote this Tuesday, May 2, when announcing his retirement from Managua.
Related news: Santiago, the “gallopintero son” of United States Ambassador Kevin Sullivan, is born in Managua
The North American diplomat managed the entry into the North American country of 222 political prisoners that the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo condemned to exile on February 9, 2023. He affirmed that the Government of Joe Biden is “proud” for the reception of the majority of Nicaraguan opponents.
Back in Nicaragua after a week in which the United States welcomed a group of 222 Nicaraguan political prisoners. The enormous logistical and humanitarian effort that we mounted in a few days was an achievement that makes us proud and that we did with a lot of love for the people of Nicaragua,” said the US ambassador.
son “gallopintero”
The diplomat’s family history will be marked by Nicaragua, his son Santiago Sullivan was born in Managua, in a private hospital, on July 13, 2020, two years after the armed attack by paramilitaries on young people who were entrenched at the National University Autonomous Region of Nicaragua (UNAN-Managua) and the Divine Mercy Church.
The US government official wrote that “Mariangeles (his wife) and I were blessed this week with the arrival of our son Santiago,” while thanking the Nicaraguan doctors who took care of his wife and baby, whom he called “our gallopintero son”, alluding to the gallopinto, one of the typical foods that most pride starts in the nicas.
Sullivan referred to Nicaragua on August 22, 2018 during a hearing in the Foreign Relations Committee of the US Senate, where he said that if confirmed in his position “he would support early, fair elections and with international observation”, to achieve a solution to the sociopolitical crisis.
Sullivan has spoken out against the actions of the Ortega and Murillo dictatorship; he also asked Nicaraguans to quarantine during the global health emergency of Covid-19. He also called on the dictatorship to return to the negotiating table, but the dictator turned a deaf ear.
“The United States will remain steadfast in its support of citizens around the world dedicated to defending democracy and promoting respect for human rights, including Nicaraguans,” Sullivan said, in a message on social networks, commemorating the declaration. of independence of the North American country in 2022.
In 2020 he said that “the right to free expression and peaceful protest are sacrosanct in the United States, as they should be in any democracy (…) when problems occur there must be independent investigations and justice for the guilty.”
In 2019, after the murder of political prisoner Eddy Montes, a US national, the ambassador reported on a meeting with the Nicaraguan Ministry of Foreign Affairs to “demand a complete and transparent investigation into this tragic incident that left other prisoners injured.”
Kevin Sullivan is a native of Cleveland, graduated with a BA in History from Georgetown University, and a Master’s in Public Policy from Princeton University. He speaks perfect Spanish and has had experience working in South American countries. Between 1997 and 2000, he worked in Buenos Aires where he is mentioned as a strong and young man, but with a lot of experience in the State Department.
In addition, he was Deputy Chief of Mission at the US Embassy in Lilongwe, Malawi. Sullivan, before being sent to Nicaragua, was Deputy Permanent Representative of the United States Mission to the Organization of American States (OAS) in Washington, DC
