Chile’s FM to Meet with Nicaraguan Opposition in Los Angeles

In one of the many side gatherings around the Summit of the Americas taking place in Los Angeles, California through June 10th.

By La Prensa

HAVANA TIMES – According to the Chilean newspaper La Tercera, Antonia Urrejola, the country’s foreign minister, will meet with representatives of groups opposing the Ortega regime while in Los Angeles. The meeting comes in the context of President Gabriel Boric and his team’s participation in the IX Summit of the Americas being held in that city.

“At 7 pm this Wednesday – 10 pm in Chile – Antonia Urrejola, Chilean foreign minister, will arrive at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles. The reason? To hold a meeting with representatives of [organizations] opposing the regime of Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua,” the news clip reads.

At the same time, they announced that Boric will meet with US president Joe Biden.

The Summit has been marked by controversy, centering on the decision on the part of the U.S., the host country, to exclude Nicaragua, Cuba, and Venezuela from the summit, since they consider these governments to be undemocratic and guilty of multiple human rights violations.

In the days leading up to the international gathering, Boric questioned the decision to sideline the three countries, calling it “an error”.

“We’re going to the Summit of the Americas with the conviction that we need the spaces for multilateral dialogue to allow us to build better relations among our countries (…) No one can save themselves alone,  we must unite to have better levels of development in our nations (…) Exclusion isn’t the right road, and historically it hasn’t yielded any results. When the United States proposes to exclude certain countries, what they do in the end is reinforce the same positions these [leaders] already hold in their respective countries. That, I believe, is an error,” Boric declared this week to the Chean newspaper.

Nonetheless, Boric has also questioned, on more than one occasion, the “repression” exercised by the Nicaraguan ruler against those who oppose him, calling that behavior “unacceptable”. In this, he coincides with the view of his foreign minister who has agreed to meet with the Nicaraguan dissidents on Wednesday, June 8th.

At the end of May, Urrejola assured that the IX Summit of the Americas would be “weakened” with the absence of Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela.

Up until December of 2021, prior to being appointed Chilean foreign minister by the newly inaugurated government of Gabriel Boric, Antonia Urrejola served as President of the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights (IACHR) and as the organization’s special rapporteur for Nicaragua.

In an interview with La Prensa hours before finalizing her responsibilities with the IACHR, Urrejola stated that she felt a personal commitment to Nicaragua.

Read more from Nicaragua and Chile here on Havana Times