In Managua on Tuesday, July 19, Nicaragua President Daniel Ortega rejected a call by SVG Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves for the Central American nation to seek dialogue with the US government.
In response to the regime’s repression, corruption, and serious human rights violations, the US has imposed a series of international sanctions against more than 40 officials. This includes his wife Vice President Rosario Murillo.
“Is it possible to have a dialogue with the devil? In Che’s words, “you can’t trust the Yankees, imperialism, even a little because they’ll finish you off.”
In a 40-minute speech he gave to the Prime Minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Ralph Gonsalves, nicknamed “Uncle Ralph” by Murillo, he reiterated that “dialogues with the US are like putting nooses around one’s own neck.
Ortega dedicated the event to Prime Minister Gonsalves, who received the “Augusto Sandino Order”. Gonsalves gave a thank you speech that lasted 30 minutes, in which he took the opportunity to advocate for dialogue between the US and Nicaragua. “I call on the United States of America, a country of great achievements, to approach in friendship the people and government of Nicaragua. Is that so difficult? Gonsalves himself has accumulated five consecutive terms—20 years in power—as prime minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
Ortega, who spoke after Gonsalves, spent the entire speech explaining Nicaraguan history to him. Despite the presence of others and the television audience, the Sandinista leader took the microphone and began his traditional anti-imperialist speech.
However, earlier this year, the Ortega regime sought rapprochement with the Biden Administration despite rejecting dialogue. Last March, the couple’s son, Laureano Ortega, discreetly approached Washington to resume talks.
After this effort, a meeting between the Ortega government and a senior State Department official was arranged in Managua, but “the meeting did not take place after the Ortegas changed their minds,” the newspaper reports.
The US government continues to impose sanctions against officials who respond to the interests of the Ortega regime. On July 15, 2022, a total of 23 judges and prosecutors who have accused and convicted political prisoners were sanctioned.
