According to Nicaraguan daily paper Confidencial, the Nicaraguan government has declared the European Union (EU) ambassador to Nicaragua, Bettina Muscheidt, persona non grata, ordering her to leave the country. The report came from a tip by “sources linked to the European Parliament.”
The Nicaraguan government expelled her due to “interference and disrespect for national sovereignty” on behalf of the EU, according to the source. However, it has issued no formal public statement as of yet, as per SputnikNews.
The news comes two days after Charles Michel, the EU’s delegate at the United Nations, used the occasion of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) to condemn the government of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and urge him to “return the sovereignty of Nicaragua to the Nicaraguan people” and “restore democracy” in the country.
“The EU urges the Nicaraguan authorities to comply with their own commitments, the Nicaraguan Constitution and international human rights laws and standards,” said the EU delegation.
“The Nicaraguan authorities must end all repression, including repression against political opponents, clergy, independent media, civil society and human rights defenders, and guarantee full respect for human rights, including freedom of assembly, association, expression, and religion or belief,” they added.
Western states have opposed the rise of Ortega and the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) since the late 1970s, when the socialist group overthrew the dictatorship of the US-backed Somoza family and implemented a system of popular democracy. When Ortega won re-election in November 2021, the US and its allies declared the results void because several candidates who took part in riots instigated by US-backed groups had their candidacies declared illegal. The US implemented severe sanctions under the aegis of the Nicaragua’s Adherence to Conditions for Electoral Reform (RENACER) Act.
In response, Managua began pulling out of groups like the Organization of American States (OAS), which is largely dominated by US foreign policy concerns, and expelling figures and groups accused of working with foreign powers to undermine the Nicaraguan government.
Speaking at the UN on Monday, Nicaraguan Foreign Minister Denis Moncada Colindres condemned “colonialist imperialism” and the “criminal blockades … the aggressions, called sanctions, illegal, arbitrary, illicit, that highlight the perversion of a system and a model, imperialist and capitalist, that continues and intends to continue ‘punishing’ and bleeding to the world.”
“It is time to bring the rights of peoples closer to a United Nations Organization that represents us all and that does not submit to the designs of any imperialist power,” Moncada said. “It is time to ensure that the United Nations Charter, and so many organizations that should serve to bring us together, are valid for everyone and respect the rights of everyone.”
