Former member of the European Parliament, Ramon Jaureguiconsiders that, although the European Union does not want to respond with a total rupture withn Managua —after the expulsion of the head of the European delegation in Nicaragua, Bettina Muscheidtand the rupture of diplomatic relations with the Netherlands by the regime of Daniel Ortega—Nicaragua’s exclusion from trade with Central America should be seriously considered.
For the Spanish politician, the European community has no choice but to think about breaking its association and trade agreement with Nicaragua.
“With these attitudes, the only thing that can be expected is a breakdown of everything. Honestly, I think there is no room for commercial transactions if you don’t want to admit the diplomatic presence of the Netherlands, or Germany, or the European Union, or other countries. It should be the subject of very serious consideration,” said the former legislator.
Jáuregui was closely acquainted with the serious human rights situation in Nicaragua during 2019, when he learned of the reality of political prisoners because he entered the El Chipote police prison. There he was able to verify the poor conditions in which the inmates were found, which he described as medieval due to “the way of treating, imprisoning, mistreating and torturing people.”
Ortega’s measures in relation to the European Union provoked rejection and indignation in that continent. The High Representative of the European Community, Joseph Borrellissued a statement where the EU qualified as “unjustified” and “hostile” the actions of the regime and announced that they were studying the way forward, but advanced that the response will be “firm and proportionate” to the measure assumed by the State of Nicaragua.
In the last week, Ortega has developed an escalation of insults against distinguished members of the international community such as the Chilean President Gabriel Boric; Assistant Secretary for the Western Hemisphere United StatesBrian Nicholsthe secretary general of the United Nations Antonio Guterresin addition to disqualifying the Catholic Church by calling it a “perfect dictatorship.”
In the act of the 43rd anniversary of the Police, one of the main pillars of the de facto state in which the civil rights of Nicaraguans have been violated since 2018, Ortega called the Chilean president a “lap dog”, one of the leaders of the left democratic. He called Nichols “bulldog” and “that black guy,” and Guterres called him a “Yankee wimp.”
“We are all cured of fear with him (Ortega), because that ability to offend and insult with false rhetoric, loaded with lies about colonialism and national sovereignty, are all lies that are told when you want to hide internal tyranny,” Jáuregui added, emphasizing that the regime has remained in the hands of Vladimir Putin and other dictators.
Also: Dictatorship suspends diplomatic relations with the Netherlands
In addition to the insults, on Friday, September 30, the president declared “non grata” to the Ambassador Hugo F. Rodriguezconfirmed by the Senate to hold office in Nicaragua.
Vice President Rosario Murillo said that he would not be admitted under any circumstances and Ortega supported her by comparing him to the filibuster William Walker, one of the characters in the history of Nicaragua who was expelled in the national war in 1856 and who appointed himself president of Nicaragua and imposed English as the language official.
They await a reaction from the US.
Eddy Acevedo, son of Nicaraguan parents, chief of staff and senior adviser to the Woodrow Wilson Center, said the United States must respond by expelling Nicaragua’s ambassador to Washington, Francisco Campbell.
The political scientist Manuel Orozco, of Inter-American Dialogue, He added that “there is a great possibility that the United States adopts a policy of reciprocity against Nicaragua.”
However, Orozco said that it should be kept in mind that the diplomatic presence of the United States in Nicaragua is also important for the regime, because the Central American country has a strong commercial dependence on the United States: 60% of exports to that nation come from free zones owned by American companies. “Not recognizing the ambassador will have an effect on the investment in the free zone,” he said.
For the political scientist, any uncertainty created by the dictatorship is consistent with “the Talibanization of which the regime has submerged Nicaragua, which includes repression, coercion and internal violence, criminalization of democracy and international isolation.”
For his part, Acevedo believes that Ortega’s insults show him to be fragile, without friends in the international community and with a notable fear of the vast majority of the Nicaraguan people who no longer support him.
“No one falls for their tricks anymore. This (the speech) is the worst I have ever seen. Hopefully the international community will wake up and act. There has to be a regional strategy in Latin America, but also working closely with the European Union”, he suggested.
The former United States ambassador to Panama, John Feeley, believes that outside of Nicaragua no one pays attention to Ortega’s rhetoric, which only means “more suffering for the abused people.”
For him, it is pure theater. “A dog that barks does not bite, and Ortega is too small to be able to bite the United States. But what he does do, like a bully bulldog in his little house, is bite into the public treasury to enrich himself with state money, ”said Feeley.
According to the former ambassador, the United States will respect Nicaragua’s decision not to grant approval to Rodríguez, who at the end of July expressed his willingness in the Senate to work for the return to democracy of the Central American country and the release of prisoners of conscience. .
He added that the most interesting thing about Ortega’s episode is that you can see how terrified he is. He is then shown to be weak and fearful in his own labyrinth of isolation.
“It is unusual but not unheard of for leaders to speak like the rabble in the street and not like statesmen. In my country, Donald Trump used to attack his political enemies with abuse and rhetorical insults. Sometimes the street laughs – and of course his paid henchmen give him a loud applause as is his pawn role – but in general with leaders of this nature the history texts do not treat them very well, ”he said. the.
