Nicaragua protests against “offensive statements” by Spanish Foreign Minister

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Government of Nicaragua protested on Saturday the “offensive statements” made by the Foreign Minister of Spain, Arancha González Laya, whom it called “bossy” and of showing “a daring ignorance and a ferocity unbecoming of diplomacy” about the political situation in the Central American country.

“The Foreign Minister of the Kingdom of Spain has in recent days made offensive statements about Nicaragua and the president of Nicaragua, reminding us of the cynicism and shamelessness of so many outrages and atrocious crimes committed by the Spanish Crown during the brutal conquest of the sacred lands of our America,” wrote Nicaraguan Foreign Minister Denis Moncada in a letter to Gonzalez Laya.

“Showing a daring ignorance and a ferocity unfit for diplomacy, Mrs. Gonzalez addresses the president of a free and sovereign people with the voice of a bailiff, without realizing in her delirious peroration of an old-fashioned scold that we have been centuries without Spanish rule, besides never having recognized any kindness in those furious Hispanic crimes, crimes against humanity,” he continued.

In the letter, Moncada said that the Sandinista government has denounced, “and we denounce, the barbarism and genocidal annihilation of our native peoples, the greedy plundering of our natural resources, the subjugation of our languages and cultures, as well as the savage implantation, or imposition, of symbols that do not belong to us.”

“And we denounce it to you today, as an expression of the crude and disrespectful ignorance that produces a certain crude and ridiculous pretension of superiority, which you yourself attribute and exhibit”, the Chancellor continued.

SPAIN DENIES INTERFERING IN NICARAGUA

The Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs rejected on Friday the accusation of the President of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega, against Spain of interfering in the Central American country and demanded “not to use excuses” to cover up human rights violations and attacks on the opposition.

Ortega on Thursday blamed the embassies of the United States, Spain, and other European countries for “meddling” in his internal affairs and promoting a single opposition presidential candidacy for next November’s elections.

González Laya also reiterated the call for the Sandinista government to “release political prisoners, their full participation in the electoral process and respect for the rights and liberties of politicians, the press, businessmen and civil society in general”.

In this regard, Moncada asked why “you do not put in your august Kingdom a pinch of that democracy that you demand from others, freeing your political prisoners, opening channels to the struggles and demands for independence, and applying civilized rules to those who have the right to fight for their beliefs, without that meaning absurd persecutions, exiles or unjust imprisonment, such as the one suffered by Catalan leaders recently pardoned, with strict conditions of non-repetition.”

“Their human rights have been violated for three years, and those human rights continue to be violated by disqualifying them de facto to exercise public functions… That is a democracy?” he added.

CHANCELLOR ALSO CRITICIZES AMBASSADOR

“His insults, offenses, and improper threats only show the weakness of character and argumentation, evident in the absence of language and the obligatory practices of diplomacy,” he continued.

Likewise, he said that they are “confirming that their ambassador in Nicaragua (María del Mar Fernández Palacios Carmona) is only a pale reflection of a policy of interference, meddling, ill-mannered, spoiled, capricious, devitalized and servile, of submission and followership to the invading ‘Yankee'”.

“What a sad, pitiful, and unfortunate role, Mrs. Gonzalez. Will you ask forgiveness someday for all your indecent inclemency…? We fight against the imperialists of the earth, enemies of humanity,” he concluded.

Nicaraguan authorities keep under arrest opposition presidential hopefuls Cristiana Chamorro, Arturo Cruz, Félix Maradiaga, Juan Sebastián Chamorro, and Miguel Mora, among other leaders they accuse of “treason”.

Ortega, who has been in power since 2007 and is seeking new reelection in the November 7 elections, has accused the opposition leaders of trying to overthrow him with the support of the United States, and has called them “criminals”.