Negotiations between the European Union (EU) and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) to reach a final declaration at the summit in Brussels were blocked on Tuesday by Nicaragua’s resistance to accepting a mention of Ukraine in the text.
“All CELAC members are aligned, except for Nicaragua,” declared French President Emmanuel Macron. “To put it mildly, Nicaragua is reluctant to sign the text,” he added.
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The European bloc insists on including a mention of Ukraine in the final text, which has been facing a Russian invasion since February 2022.
The former ambassador of Nicaragua to the Organization of American States (OAS) Arthur McFields said to Article 66 that Nicaragua’s dictatorship is “a world shame because in an act of total submission to Russia it refused to sign a resolution that even the Cuban and Venezuelan regimes finally decided to support.”
He stressed that the administration of Daniel Ortega shows, once again, its radicalism and its attitude “submissive to any situation that is in favor of Russia and that is something that goes beyond the approaches of the most radical countries.”
He also described the Nicaraguan regime as “an international pariah because it simply said: “If they touch my master Putin, I cannot support any statement”, which is why I think today was a shameful day for the dictatorship because it demonstrated its submission to the Putin regime and cowardice to condemn a war of aggression against Ukraine.”
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The deputy dictator of Nicaragua, Rosario Murillo, called the European Union (EU) a “liar”, and accused it of breaking with the democratic mechanisms that govern that transnational organization, for having announced a “consensus resolution” against the Russian Federation for the invasion of Ukraine and maintaining that war for more than a year.
In his daily address, through the official propaganda media, Murillo allowed himself to go against the Europeans and even seemed to want to give them democracy classes.
“Our Government informs our people and the international community that it did not sign, approve or support what was announced today pompously and falsely as a consensus declaration of the third summit. We do not sign, we do not approve, we do not support that resolution,” Murillo insistently reiterated.
This dispute overshadowed a summit intended as an opportunity to revitalize ties and relegated to the background an important investment announcement by the European bloc, as well as a meeting engineered by France between the Venezuelan government and the opposition and trade debates and on challenges such as climate change.
Within the framework of the Summit between the European Union and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), human rights defenders from Nicaragua and Cuba have proposed Monsignor Rolando Álvarez, Bishop of the Diocese of Matagalpa, as a candidate for the Sarajov Prize . This prestigious award, bestowed by the European Parliament (EP), recognizes those who defend freedom of conscience.
The nomination of the Catholic leader, who has accumulated more than 320 days in prison, is recognition of his outstanding work and commitment to the promotion and protection of human rights.
In a video posted on Twitter, the opposition Haydee Castillo has urged the EP to award the Sarajov prize to Bishop Álvarez “for being a symbol of the struggle for the liberation of our peoples, for democracy and for freedom of conscience.”
