QCOSTARICA – Nicaragua has recalled its ambassador to Costa Rica for “consultation” on Monday, deepening the Central American country’s international isolation over its crackdowns on the opposition.
Ambassadors to Mexico, Argentina, and Colombia were recalled as well in what is seen as a tit-for-tat move by the Daniel Ortega regime.
Vice president and government spokesperson, Rosario Murillo, in her noon address through the official media said that the measure is in “reciprocity” as corresponds with the Vienna Convention before similar calls made by those governments.
“The Government of Nicaragua has seriously and maturely observed and considered, with great patience, the constant and undeserved accusations that are disrespectful, meddlesome and interventionist in our internal affairs by the highest authorities of these countries, on issues that only concern our people and Government, and also cynically and unscrupulously referring to situations that they try to ignore and that are harmful to human rights in their own countries,” said Murillo.
According to the VP and wife of Daniel Ortega, she added that Nicaragua has “once again established our position of national dignity, the right to sovereignty, and respect for our right to sovereignty, which is peace.”
The ambassadors called for consultations by the regime are: Duilio Hernández Avilés in Costa Rica; Orlando Gómez in Argentina; Juan Carlos Gutiérrez Madrigal in Mexico; Yara Pérez in Colombia.
Regime rejects foreign “intervention”
Murillo took it for granted that said action shows that Nicaragua has successfully fought all forms of what her regime considers “intervention” and for this reason, they “categorically” reject these modalities.
“In our affairs and in our territory we categorically reject these unacceptable forms of caricatural imitation of those who violated our own and sacred lands of homeland have assumed functions that no one has granted them in open violation of international law, human rights and in shameful follow-up of colonialist, imperialist and destructive powers of our cultures and ways of life, the government of this blessed and always free Nicaragua regrets taking this measure that only demands respect for peaceful, reverent and harmonious norms of coexistence between nations and peoples that we owe to our common history,” said Murillo.
The recall comes after similar moves by the four countries against Nicaragua.
Costa Rica, a few weeks ago suspended the appointment of its ambassador to Nicaragua. Mexico, Argentina and Colombia recently recalled their ambassadors to protest against moves to clamp down on the opposition in Nicaragua.
On Saturday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken accused Ortega of taking new “undemocratic, authoritarian actions”, singling Murillo, and said the two were seeking to hold on to power “at all costs” with a strategy of disqualifying potential opposition candidates for the presidential elections to be held in November.
Read more: Already 29 opponents detained in Nicaragua as Ortega clears the way to the elections
The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, said Nicaragua’s decision to bar the country’s biggest opposition alliance from the November vote “crushes the prospects of a credible and legitimate electoral process.”
“The opposition has been eliminated. Nicaraguans are being deprived of the basic human and civil right to vote in a credible, inclusive and transparent election,” Borrell said in a statement on Monday.
Last week, the EU slapped sanctions on Murillo and other top officials over human rights violations and undermining democracy. The restrictions include asset freezes and bans on travel in Europe.
The Ortega administration has argued it is upholding the law, stopping would-be candidates from receiving foreign funds or the publication of information the government deems false.
Arrests continue
On Monday, the Nicaraguan police loyal to Daniel Ortega arrested opposition leader Mauricio Diaz Davila, a candidate for Congress and a former ambassador to Costa Rica.
Desde Ciudadanos por la Libertad demandamos la inmediata liberación y el respeto a la integridad física de nuestro Directivo Nacional, Mauricio Díaz.
¡Detenido arbitrariamente! pic.twitter.com/J2OavIhyxL
— Alianza Ciudadanos por la Libertad (@CxLibertad) August 9, 2021
Davila’s party, Citizens for Liberty (CxL), said he was arrested with violence.
