The Diplomat
Pilar Terrén, who was appointed Spain’s new ambassador to Managua on 19 March, presented her Copies of Letters of Credence to Nicaraguan Foreign Minister Denis Moncada on Wednesday.
This brings to an end the period of almost a year in which Spain was without an ambassador in Nicaragua, after having recalled the previous ambassador, Mar Fernández-Palacios, for consultations in protest at a harsh communiqué from Daniel Ortega’s regime, accusing Spain of interfering in Nicaraguan internal affairs.
According to official media reports, Nicaraguan Vice-President Rosario Murillo said: “Today we would like to give a special greeting to the new ambassador of the Kingdom of Spain, Mrs Pilar María Terrén Lalana, who arrived in our blessed Nicaragua, always dignified and free, yesterday”.
Throughout these months, the Spanish government has been very critical of Ortega and, among other things, denounced electoral fraud in the November presidential elections in which he was re-elected.
On 10 March, Nicaragua withdrew its ambassador in Madrid, Carlos Midence, again alleging “interference pressure” on its diplomatic representative. The embassy was left in charge of the minister-counsellor, Milagros Urbina, and it is now expected that, in the process of normalising relations, Ortega will appoint a new ambassador, as Midence was recently appointed to take charge of the embassy in Argentina.
