Russia Backs Nicaragua’s “Anti-Imperialist” Ortega…

…since he blames the USA and Europe in his battle against what he claims to be foreign imperialist interference to overthrow him from power

HAVANA TIMES – The Russian government of Vladimir Putin is closing ranks with its Nicaraguan ally, Daniel Ortega, to denounce what they both consider to be US “interference” in Nicaraguan affairs, reported Leonor Alvarez for La Prensa.

To what extent they will go to help keep Ortega in power is not known.

On Friday, July 9, the spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, María Zajarova, denounced in a press conference what her country considers interference by the United States in Nicaraguan affairs during the electoral process in that country, reported Sputnik news agency.

Zajarova said that there is a “powerful wave of external pressure on the legitimate government of President Daniel Ortega” to destabilize the country and expel the ruling Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) from power, led by Ortega and his wife and co-ruler, Rosario Murillo.

The spokesperson was referring to the almost blanket condemnation in the Americas and Europe of the Ortega-Murillo regime’s violent repression against any and all opposition.

Putin’s government also warned about “flagrant interference in the internal affairs of Nicaragua, in particular, in financial matters, which is clearly reflected in the US legislative framework,” reported the Russian news agency TASS.  

The United States government and Congress have maintained a harsh criticism and condemnation of the Ortega government since the events of 2018, when his Police and paramilitary led the armed repression against civic protests that opposed a social security reform. More than 300 people died from this repression, according to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).

Nonetheless, Ortega said the protests were a coup attempt to overthrow his government, a separate reality that Russia tacitly approved.

The Russian spokesperson recalled that in November 2018 the then US president, Donald Trump, approved an executive order declaring the situation in Nicaragua as “an extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States.” In December of that same year, Washington approved a law attempting to block any type of financing for the Central American country by international banks, monetary and financial institutions and organizations.

The United States is one of the countries that is leading the pressure on the Ortega regime, to force it to hold free, fair and transparent elections on November 7th. However, Ortega’s full-proof control of the electoral power is maintained and in the last four weeks the police repression against opponents has intensified.

The Trump administration sanctioned for corruption and/or human rights violations more than twenty Ortega family members and officials, including his wife and his co-ruler, Rosario Murillo, three of his children; likewise his father-in-law and Chief of Police, Francisco Diaz, the president of the National Assembly, Gustavo Porras; the Chief of the Army, the Minister of Finance and Public Credit, the Minister of Health, among others.

What real effect, if any, such sanctions have actually had is totally unknown, except that they can no longer vacation or invest in the US.

Read more from Nicaragua here on Havana Times.