Daniel Ortega increasingly isolated in the world: the old allies who abandoned him and who still support him

Daniel Ortega’s regime in Nicaragua he is more alone than ever. Almost unanimously from the governments of Latin America and Europe against him, Intellectuals and left movements joined forces that traditionally supported the Sandinista revolution and have now turned their backs on Ortega.

“Even the left does not support them“Says Nicaraguan lawyer and political analyst Edgard Parrales, who was a diplomat to the Sandinista government in the 1980s.”That those on the right and those in the center reject them must not hurt them as much as they were rejected by the groups on the left.”.

Parrales refers to a recent letter entitled “Nicaragua, another blow… and another silence?», Published at the end of last month and signed by 146 personalities of the international left, including the former Uruguayan president, José “Pepe” Mujica, the writers Elena Poniatowska and Margaret Randall and the Chilean poet Raúl Zurita.

“Ortega and the sector of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) which follows it have experienced a long process of deterioration, which records episodes of corruption, abandonment of principles, illicit enrichment, maneuvers and accommodation with the worst right, intended to amass fortunes and perpetuate themselves in power“says the letter.

A few days later, at the beginning of July, More than 500 left-wing American intellectuals and activists, who were part of the solidarity network of the Sandinista revolution, signed another open letter condemning recent arrests of opponents. “Many of us lived and worked in Nicaragua or went there as members of solidarity delegations and work brigades between 1979 and 1990,” they explain.

“The Ortega-Murillo government in no way represents the values, principles and goals of the Sandinista revolution that we once admired. and betrays the memory of tens of thousands of Nicaraguans who died for a democratic Nicaragua ”, adds the document signed, among others, by Margaret Randall and Alice Walker, Daniel Ellsberg, Holly Near and Noam Chomsky.

Among the governments of the world, the situation is no better for the Ortega regime. In the middle of last month, 26 American countries voted in favor of an Organization of American States (OAS) resolution condemning the crackdown in Nicaragua, calls for the release of political prisoners and the holding of free and fair elections next November. Only three states on the continent – Nicaragua, Bolivia and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines – voted against and five others abstained.

A week later, 59 countries have signed a United Nations declaration condemning human rights violations in Nicaragua and demanding the release of detained opponents. “The Nicaraguan case will never be able to reach the (UN) Security Council, but it has already crossed the barrier of the 50 states that support the resolution of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, and it is a step important, ”he explains. Nicaraguan politician Mauricio Dávila, former Nicaraguan Ambassador to the OAS.

In the rain of condemnations against the Nicaraguan government, Rosario Murillo, vice-president and wife of Daniel Ortega, responds that his country is under an “imperial assault” promoted by the United States to promote “regime change”.

From the official letter of the Nicaraguan spokesman, registered under the name of “Rosario Murillo”, dozens of messages are sent daily to try to prove it. Or at least demonstrate that the isolation experienced by Daniel Ortega’s regime is not total.

In one of them, for example, the recently created anti-imperialist Peoples International, promoted by former Honduran President Manuel Zelaya, denounces what it calls “A new Condor plan” against Nicaragua. “This time, the new Condor electoral plan of the United States has been anticipated, in particular because of the quantity of resources intended to boycott the electoral process in Nicaragua next November,” he said in a statement.

In yet another, French journalist Maurice Lemoine wonders if “such unanimity (in the international press) should make us doubt”. “Whether they are on the right or on the left, they publish almost the same thing to denounce the” criminal drift of Daniel Ortega’s regime. Either Nicaragua has effectively become “The Gulag of Central America” of the Spanish newspaper El País (June 27), where this surprising consensus is a perverse (or lazy) abstraction applied to reality, ”he underlines in an article he entitled “The hypocrites fly over Nicaragua.

“Daniel Ortega’s regime is going through the worst situation it can have. He is almost alone, ”says Edgard Parrales. “The countries that remain firmly in the Western Kingdom are Cuba, Venezuela and Bolivia. There are others who, although they are not in favor, do not want to engage, as is the case of Honduras, which has been in an attitude of abstention because it has problems that can affect it later.

Russia is one of the main supporters of the Nicaraguan regime. This Friday, the spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, María Zajárova, assured at a press conference that there was a “Powerful wave of external pressure on the legitimate government of President Daniel Ortega” and denounced that Nicaragua is subject to US interference in internal affairs amid the electoral process in that country.

Parrales recalls that “at the time, Russia warned that someone should refrain from intervening in Nicaragua”, although he considers that this country “is playing discreetly because it has problems with Europe, the United States and the economy “.

Russia has entered into military agreements with Nicaragua and a delegation of more than 50 Russian citizens recently arrived in the country, in a mysterious flight that was known because it violated Colombian airspace. At the end of last month he arrived in Nicaragua a “high level” delegation from Crimea to “strengthen the ties of political, economic and commercial cooperation”, indicated the government.

“The delegation from Crimea is a formal act, without importance. This has no effect because Crimea is in dispute, it belongs to Ukraine and Russia has taken it by force, ”explains Parrales.

Mauricio Dávila, for his part, says that Ortega has found a very useful partner in Russia because the Russians will always try to take advantage of any country’s contradictions with the United States. “The Russian Federation is starting to see us again as its guinea pigs in its war games with the United States,” he said.

Governments of Argentina and Mexico, once sympathizers of the Ortega regime, are a big unknown in their relations with Nicaragua. No one is betting on them one way or the other as their positions change from day to day.

“Argentina and Mexico are in a very special situation, because after they did not want to be fully involved in the OAS resolution, they were left behind. a shy position», Parrales values. “They initially abstained to seek a rapprochement, but the contempt of the Ortega government led them to take a firmer position: they withdrew their ambassadors and announced that the two countries would speak out this week on the problem. Nicaraguan ”.

Dávila, on the other hand, does not see Argentina determined and yes Mexico “which I already see taking a firm stand” against the Ortega regime.

On June 25, Mexican President Manuel López Obrador called on Nicaragua to guarantee freedoms and “not to imprison” opponents. Juan Carlos Ortega, one of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo’s sons, confronted him with a tweet: “Oe, Andrés… @lopezobrador_ History does not allow us these luxuries of cowardice. Be amazed, my brotherWrote. Under-Secretary for External Relations Maximiliano Reyes Zúñiga replied in turn: “Courage has always been on the side of freedom, cowardice is the ally of repression.”

The left which still supports Ortega is mainly grouped in the Forum of Sao Pablo, an entity made up of 123 Latin American left, center and far left political parties and organizations. “It’s true, the Sao Pablo Forum has maintained its support for Ortega, but even some of its members, like Pepe Mujica and others, are signing the letter condemning the 146,” Parrales said.

“With Ortega,” says Mauricio Díaz, “the left carnivore has remained, the herbivore, so to speak, the lightest, has turned its back on it.

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