2023-04-23 14:00:00
Vladimir Putin’s authoritarian allies in Latin America, including Daniel Ortega, failed to reach “substantial agreements” on Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s recent visit, but that did not stop the chief diplomat from seeking to project regional support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Lavrov’s visit to Nicaragua lasted 2 hours and 48 minutes, from his landing at the Augusto C. Sandino International Airport in Managua, where he was received by Foreign Minister Denis Moncada and the presidential adviser and son of the ruling couple, Laureano Ortega Murillo.
Later, Putin’s minister met with dictators Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo at the “Olof Palme” convention center. It was then that the Sandinista caudillo complained to Lavrov about the sanctions imposed on his officials. Thus, he criticized the United States and the European Union, which have even punished Vice President Murillo.
“People who are under sanctions in Russia think that this is recognition of their progress in protecting Russia’s interests,” the Russian foreign minister added.
Lavrov and Putin were also sanctioned by the United States Treasury Department on February 25, 2022, because they are considered part of the “architects” of the invasion of Ukraine.
According to Ortega, the 52 sanctions that the US Administration has imposed on the Nicaraguan regime do not worry the “comrades” and rather should be a reason for “pride” for them. The sanctioned Murillo said they should feel “honored.”
Eddy Acevedoson of Nicaraguan parents, chief of staff and senior advisor at the Wilson Center, affirmed that neither the “tyrannical leadership” of Russia nor that of Nicaragua will ever admit the blow to their pockets, but explained that the United States, the European Union and Canada are together in punishing those who are committing “crimes against humanity”.
A “conversation” until next June in Russia
The head of Russian diplomacy said, in a press appearance together with his Nicaraguan counterpart, that they addressed “many issues of mutual interest”, such as economic issues and cooperation within the framework of an intergovernmental commission, although he did not report any agreement or specific commitment.
According to Lavrov, Russia and Nicaragua agreed to “hold a conversation during the St. Petersburg Economic Forum to be held in June of this year” in his country.
A CONFIDENCIAL report revealed last January that Ortega’s “political allies” —Russia, Cuba, Venezuela, Iran and China— do not contribute funds to the dictatorship. A data analysis, with the reports of the General Budget of the Republic from 2018 to 2023, confirmed that the contribution of this “club of friends” in the category of donations or loans is zero.
Regarding bilateral cooperation, Lavrov highlighted what Russia offers Nicaragua in “the field of health and vaccine production, which is quite well developed” in the Central American country.
He recalled that Nicaragua and Russia have signed “many agreements” in different fields, and that at the end of last March they signed “another very important agreement on the peaceful use of atomic energy”.
During his appearance, in which his Nicaraguan counterpart did not speak, he explained that this agreement on the peaceful use of energy will not be for energy purposes, “but for the production of medicines.”
Visits to “adorn your visit to Brazil”
for the teacher Evan Ellisan expert on Russian and Latin American relations—a member of the Institute for Strategic Studies of the United States Army College— “the perception of Lavrov’s brief stops (in Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua) were to decorate his visit to Brazil”.
Lula’s government is being criticized at this moment, because it received Lavrov with honors. The Brazilian Executive has urged the United States and the European Union to start talking about peace without prolonging the conflict, while it has positioned itself against sanctions against Russia, although it condemns the invasion that that country made to Ukraine.
“It shows once again the ability of Russian diplomacy to take lemons and make lemonade,” Ellis said.
The American expert added that Putin’s “friends” are always willing to meet with Lavrov and offer their unconditional support to the Kremlin, however, the opening of Brazil—which was originally to explore an end to the war—became a sample of “an amount of support” for Russia in Latin America.
“The position of the Ortegas is nothing new or surprising. What stands out is the absence of real commitments by Russia to Nicaragua or vice versa,” added Ellis.
According to Acevedo, Lavrov’s tour was intended to reaffirm alliances with Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua.
In this sense, he added that Ortega seeks resources to stay in power, continue to repress the people and evade the sanctions of the international community, for which he aligned himself with Russia and other anti-American powers such as China and Iran, representing a risk to national security. from United States.
Putin’s alliance with Ortega has been strengthened since the Nicaraguan dictator came to power in 2007, fueled by nostalgia for the extinct relationship of the first Sandinista government in the 1980s with the now-defunct Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).
The slam of the Russians in SICA
The Nicaraguan dictator and Lavrov did not refer to the slammed door by Costa Rica and Guatemala to Ortega’s demand to remove Taiwan as an observer from the Central American Integration System (SICA) and include Russia instead.
Lavrov congratulated the ruling couple on the “national day of peace” and considered “an advance that the people have been able to protect their right to decide independently”, without “interference from outside”.
The Ortega regime declared April 19 as the “national day of peace”, while the country has been subjected to a de facto police state since 2018 that has violated the rights of citizens.
In a display of cynicism, the authorities chose that date when the opposition recalls the massive protests of 2018, when the dictatorship brutally repressed citizens with the aim of staying in power.
After the meeting with Lavrov, in an appearance without the presence of his guest, Ortega accused without evidence the “Caínes”, “imperialism”to the “bishops of the devil” to try to give him a “blow”.
For Ellis, Russia and China function as a kind of “guarantors” for the Nicaraguan regime, which finds itself increasingly more isolated after international demand to hold them accountable for human rights abuses.
Last February, investigators Douglas Farah and Marianne Richardson revealed that the Nicaraguan regime received training from the Russian Federation to strengthen its repressive capabilities in 2018.
The Russians have a regional anti-drug police training center in Nicaragua, they have a Latin American biotechnology institute set up with Russian funds and Nicaraguan Social Security funds. Also a satellite station in Managua, denounced as a spy center.
Ortega, the supposed anti-imperialist, surrendered to the interests of Russia, and supports it ruthlessly in international forums, approved a legal framework that allows that country to jointly respond to threats “from the international information security”. On the other hand, the cooperation between Russia and the Nicaraguan military is not all transparent.
#Lavrov #Nicaragua #visit #listen #Ortegas #complaints