Daniel Ortega expels the ambassador of the European Union in Nicaragua

The ambassador of the European Union in Nicaragua, Bettina MuscheidtEMBAJADA DE LA UE EN NICARAGUA (EMBAJADA DE LA UE EN NICARAGUA)

The Government of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo has summoned this Wednesday at the headquarters of the Foreign Ministry in Managua the ambassador of the European Union in Nicaragua, Bettina Muscheidt, to inform her that she was declared non grata for an alleged "interference in national sovereignty" .

The foreign minister, Denis Moncada, has told the diplomat that she should leave the country as soon as possible.

A chapter that places the relationship between the Sandinista regime and the European community block on the edge of the precipice.

Diplomatic sources confirmed to EL PAÍS the meeting at the Foreign Ministry and the de facto expulsion of Muscheidt.

Until now, the regime's diplomacy has not formalized the decision through “the corresponding channels”.

The EU diplomat arrived accompanied by the French ambassador, Brieuc Pont, and the German Christoph Bundscherer.

Brussels limited itself to confirming the meeting more than 12 hours later through the spokesman for the European Foreign Service, Peter Stano.

“I am not aware of any official announcement, the only thing I can say on the subject at this time is that our ambassador, the head of the European Union delegation in Managua, was summoned yesterday to the Nicaraguan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and we are evaluating his situation in contact with the Nicaraguan authorities,” Stano said.

Diplomatic sources told this newspaper that the chancellor, Denis Moncada, imposed a deadline until this Saturday for Ambassador Muscheidt to leave Nicaragua.

However, they say, the EU will not announce its measures until the diplomat has left the Central American country.

The expulsion of the ambassador occurs two days after the EU demanded that the Ortega-Murillo regime cease the repression and demanded the "return of the sovereignty of Nicaragua to its legitimate owners."

The EU pointed out that, since November 2021, when Ortega and Murillo screwed themselves into power in elections without transparency, the situation in the country has deteriorated further.

“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”,

Daniel Ortega participated this Wednesday night in an act of the National Police, but in his speech he did not say anything about the expulsion of the EU ambassador.

Something that surprised the diplomatic sources, who did expect it.

However, they believe that the decision will be made official before Saturday.

Instead, Ortega lashed out at the Catholic Church, Europeans, the United States and Latin American leaders who have demanded the release of political prisoners, calling them "lapdogs of the Yankee empire."

The Sandinista caudillo focused on the president of Chile, Gabriel Boric.

“I would tell anyone in Chile to stop telling jokes, when it is built on the foundations of a dictatorship, of the Pinochet tyranny,” threatened Ortega, whose diplomacy has already clashed with countless countries, such as Spain.

Last March, the Sandinista government prevented the Spanish ambassador, María del Mar Fernández-Palacio, from returning to the Central American country, and then decided to withdraw her representative in Madrid, Carlos Midence.

A fleeting step through Managua

The German diplomat Bettina Muscheidt had been appointed as EU ambassador to Nicaragua on September 20, 2021, replacing the Spaniard Pelayo Castro Zuzuárregui, who in August of the same year announced the end of his diplomatic mission.

During Castro Zuzuárregui's mission, the EU and some European countries sanctioned relatives and associates of Ortega, including his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, and several of his children, under accusations of violating human rights and democracy.

After her appointment, Ambassador Muscheidt stated that her functions include "the main responsibility of continuing to promote and defend the values ​​and principles that guide the actions of the EU and its Member States, inside and outside its borders: respect of human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, rule of law and respect for human rights”.

The EU has maintained a constant criticism against the excesses of Ortega and Murillo in Nicaragua.

The high representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrel, has even said that "Nicaragua is a dictatorship, and it is a problem that is growing."

While Nicaragua finalizes the departure of the EU ambassador, some members of the European Parliament have recently joined the campaign "Breaking Chains, sponsor a political prisoner," which demands the release of Ortega's prisoners in Nicaragua.