The dictatorship of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo is once again trying to blackmail the member governments of the Central American Integration System (SICA) with the complaint of an alleged “usurpation” of the functions of the General Secretariat of the organization.
In reality, what it seeks is to pressure to finally accept one of its candidates for that position, something that is probably not going to happen due to the lack of suitability of the proposals, say analysts consulted by Article 66.
Related news: Ortega tries to blackmail SICA with a complaint of “usurpation” of the General Secretariat
For the opposition leader in exile Hector Mairena, The complaint of alleged usurpation of functions of the General Secretariat denounced by the dictatorship is nothing more than a “tantrum” and “one more blackmail” by the dictators Ortega and Murillo, who feel isolated and ignored in their attempts to get him appointed in the position of general secretary to one of his proposed political operators.
Mairena maintains that Ortega-Murillo’s reaction is because in reality they are the ones who want the regional body to remain paralyzed in order to pressure for the appointment they seek.
A former Nicaraguan diplomat who is intimately familiar with the functioning of SICA confirms that the General Secretariat of that organization is empowered to put the organization into operation in the absence of a general secretary, as is currently the case and as has already happened on two previous occasions.
For the former diplomat, who prefers not to be mentioned by name, the Ortega-Murillo regime is wrong when it tries to pressure to impose a political operator in office, pretending that the SICA body functions under its mandate and subordinate to the dictators.
«It must be taken into account that the position of secretary general, although it is up to Nicaragua to propose the official who will occupy it, once appointed does not respond to Nicaragua but to the Integration System, that is, to the Consultative Council and all member states. It is not subordinated to the State to which it belongs,” explains the former foreign official.
The three candidates of the dictatorship are: the deputy and FSLN fanatic, Arling Patricia Alonso, the Minister of the Interior and instrument of NGO confiscations, María Coronel Kinloch; and the former head of Health and current presidential advisor with the rank of minister for Health Affairs, Sonia Castro; the same one that ordered the closing of the doors of public and subsidized hospitals to deny medical care to those injured in the social protests of 2018.
Related news: Nicaragua registers the largest increase in food prices in Central America
Nicaragua has the highest food inflation rate in Central America. As of last September, the country reached 5.4 percent, which placed it as the nation in the isthmus where food products increased the most in price.
Having the highest year-on-year inflation in the region, explained an anonymous economist, means that in 12 months Nicaragua raised the cost of food products so much that it surpassed any Central American country, despite being at the bottom of the region’s economic indices.
The economist consulted by Article 66 explained that since Nicaragua has an interannual food inflation rate of 5.4 percent, it implies that the products in the basic basket increased that same percentage compared to the price at which they were quoted a year ago, that is, in September 2023.
He mentioned that food inflation, specifically, refers to food prices, which increase due to several factors, among them: increase in the costs of their production, difficulties in supply and demand, influence of international prices of these food, internal policies or currency devaluation.
