The Diplomat
The Spanish government will not send any representatives to the inauguration of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, which will take place next Monday, diplomatic sources told Europa Press.
The Spanish government has maintained a firm position in recent months towards Ortega, whose re-election in the elections of 7 November for what is his fourth consecutive term in office it has not recognised.
In a statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he made it clear that he considers the elections “a mockery” and denounced that they “do not reflect the genuine will of the Nicaraguan people, whom Daniel Ortega has deprived of the free and full exercise of their right to vote”.
It also accused the government of having installed in Nicaragua “a repressive and authoritarian regime protected by a regressive legislative framework and the connivance of the legislative and judicial powers, controlled by Ortega”.
The Executive criticised Ortega for the “systematic persecution of political, social, media and economic actors” as well as the imprisonment of the main opposition leaders and pre-candidates in the months leading up to the elections, calling once again for their release, as well as that of other detainees.
As a general rule, it is King Felipe VI who attends the inaugurations of Latin American leaders, dating back to the time when he was still Prince of Asturias. This was the case last summer with the inauguration of Pedro Castillo as president of Peru, and it is expected to be repeated on 11 March with the inauguration of Gabriel Boric in Chile.
If the King does not attend, a lower level of representation could be chosen, for example by the foreign minister, in this case José Manuel Albares, or even lower, by the ambassador on duty in the country.
However, in the case of Nicaragua, Spain only has one Chargé d’Affaires, since the government recalled its ambassador to Nicaragua, María del Mar Fernández-Palacios, for consultations on 11 August in response to a harsh communiqué from the Nicaraguan Foreign Ministry in which Spain’s interference was denounced and the GAL and Catalonia were used to criticise the government.
In this communiqué, a response to one from the Foreign Ministry criticising the detention of opponents, the Nicaraguan Foreign Ministry denounced “the cynical and continuous meddling, interference and intervention in our internal affairs, unbecoming of democratic governments, unbecoming also of regimes that continually fail to respect the rights of their peoples to autonomy or autonomous processes of independence”, and referred to the “state terrorism” of the GAL.
