QCOSTARICA – The former representative of Nicaragua before the Organization of American States (OAS), Arturo McFields, assured that the idea of the president-elect of Costa Rica, Rodrigo Chaves, of appointing an ambassador in Managua would be to give “absolute recognition” to the Nicaraguan government.
During the first press conference, the president-elect assured that his government will appoint an ambassador to the Daniel Ortega regime, a position that has been vacant for four years since Eduardo Trejos left to assume the leadership of the Intelligence and Security Directorate. (DIS).
Read more: Carlos Alvarado explains his decision not to appoint ambassador to Nicaragua
“My vision is to appoint an ambassador in Nicaragua. If we have diplomatic relations, we are not at war, what is that about there being no ambassador. No, no,” Chaves said. “If it is necessary to break diplomatic relations with a country, for reasons of merit, well, let’s break them, but let’s not be in the little game that we are friends, we do talk, but there is no ambassador. I think it couldn’t be clearer,” he added.
For his part, President Carlos Alvarado, explained that during his term he did not appoint an ambassador to Nicaragua because he considers the closure of media outlets, the imprisonment of political actors and the violence in the protests to be “serious events” that normalized the Ortega-Murillo mandate.
McFields, who left the OAS after denouncing the Ortega dictatorship on March 23, assured La Nación that there are other ways to maintain relations with a country without appointing the highest figure that a president can send, that is, an ambassador.
For the former diplomat, it is important to see some signs of how a government is coming along “because later it is too late when you want to react.”
Read more: Nicaragua recalls its ambassador in Costa Rica “for consultation”
“It worries me, but it should worry the Costa Rican people more, this is a red alert because it is indicating the principles and values of his (Chaves) administration (…). One can send a minister counselor, a secretary, or even a consul, to perform the duties at the embassy. But by sending an ambassador, it is giving recognition, at the highest level, to a regime that has put 181 politicians in jail and for which 355 people have lost their lives since the 2018 protests,” McFields said.
Meanwhile, what for Chaves would be a way to “maintain diplomatic relations” with Nicaragua, for McFields it represents “a slap in the face of human rights.”
The former ambassador recalled the large number of entities and officials who ruled out continuing to be part of the Nicaraguan dictatorship, as well as those who cannot leave their posts for fear of reprisals.
“There are hundreds of people who have made the decision to leave the regime, but there are thousands who do not make it and who suffer in silence having to repeat slogans, put on their shirts, repeat speeches, fill squares and act in a way that really saddens them. ”, assured the former representative to this medium from Washington, where he awaits the approval of his political asylum.
Read more: Costa Rica first denies, then confirms appointment of Ambassador to Nicaragua
All the humiliations must be endured by some officials because, according to McFields, they have to earn a living.
“They live in a situation of moral humiliation and a situation of outrage against their beliefs and values,” he added.
