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(CNN Spanish) --
The National Assembly of Nicaragua ratified on Tuesday the presidential decree that will allow foreign armed forces to enter the country as of July 1, including Russia, Cuba, Venezuela and the United States, although with different purposes for each country.
The decree was approved with the favorable vote of 78 deputies, mostly from the ruling Sandinista National Liberation Front, FSLN, with no votes against, and the abstention of 11 deputies from minority parties.
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Deputy Alejandro Mejía Ferreti, third secretary of parliament, during the reading of the explanatory statement, justified the approval of the decree in the military tradition of conducting joint humanitarian exercises.
For his part, Sandinista deputy Wálmaro Gutiérrez argued that dozens of similar decrees have been ratified in the National Assembly since 2007 and that international media have manipulated its approval.
In the decree signed by President Daniel Ortega on June 7 and now endorsed by the Nicaraguan Congress, the entry of ships, planes and military personnel also from Central America and Mexico is allowed for the purpose of "exchange and mutually beneficial humanitarian assistance in situations of emergency".
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The decree describes, in several articles, the type of authorization that is extended to the different countries.
In the case of the US, the rule mentions that it will be a coordinated entry with the Nicaraguan Army to carry out humanitarian aid operations and search, rescue and rescue missions in emergency situations or natural disasters.
In the case of the Russian military forces, the entry authorization includes the same humanitarian aid purposes as for the US military, but adds multiple layers of cooperation, such as training exercises, "exchange of experiences", operations "against illegal maritime” in the Caribbean, fight against drug trafficking and transnational organized crime and security training.
The decree provides that, on a rotating basis, 230 Russian troops and military equipment enter Nicaragua in the second half of this year.
It establishes lower figures for the military of Venezuela and Cuba.
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The decree published in La Gaceta also authorizes the departure on a rotating basis of 50 Nicaraguan military personnel, ships and aircraft to the Russian Federation with the aim of "participating in exchange exercises and military instruction and training in humanitarian aid operations."
Ortega expressed his support for Russian President Vladimir Putin in February when he recognized the independence of the self-proclaimed breakaway republics of Donetsk and Luhansk, both located in eastern Ukraine, a fact that the United States considered "very worrying."
In addition, Managua voted against the expulsion of Russia from the United Nations Human Rights Council, a measure that the Council took after observing the humanitarian effects of the Russian military invasion in Ukraine.
In March, Nicaragua abstained from voting on a United Nations resolution condemning and requesting an end to Russia's intervention in Ukraine.
