Gabriel Boric, the President of Chile, recently criticized the Nicaraguan government at the XXVIII Ibero-American Summit held in Santo Domingo. Boric referred to the government of Daniel Ortega as a “family dictatorship” and expressed concern about the withdrawal of nationality from opposition members. In response, the Nicaraguan Minister of Foreign Affairs, Denis Moncada Colindres, demanded respect from President Boric and accused him of betraying the Chilean people and being under the influence of the North American empire and its allies.
Moncada Colindres stated that President Boric must not use Nicaragua as a platform to make such comments. He emphasized that the relations between the people of Chile and Nicaragua will not be broken by these actions. Additionally, he requested respect for their state, government, and people.
Boric, on the other hand, mentioned the cases of Sergio Ramírez and Gioconda Belli, two writers whose nationality was withdrawn along with historic ex-guerrilla Dora María Téllez. Nicaragua has withdrawn the nationality of 317 Nicaraguans, including the bishops Rolando Álvarez and Silvio Báez, Luis Carrión, the former Sandinista vice chancellor Víctor Hugo Tinoco, the veteran human rights defender Vilma Núñez, and the journalist Carlos Fernando Chamorro.
Nicaragua has been experiencing a political and social crisis since April 2018, which worsened after the controversial general elections of November 7, 2021. Ortega was re-elected for a fifth term amid allegations of fraud, with many of his main contenders in prison or in exile. The situation in Nicaragua remains tense, and concerns about human rights violations continue to be raised.
