The European Commission has taken its time to analyze the Nicaraguan decision to withdraw the placet from the ambassador appointed by the EU to represent the EU-27 before the Ortega-Murillo regime. The Community Executive wants to avoid a total rupture of relations with Managua, so it limits itself to saying that it “takes note” of the decision, which it hopes is only “temporary.” The spokesman for Foreign Affairs of the European Executive said that “we remain convinced that full diplomatic relations and constructive dialogue should continue to be the norm in bilateral relations.” Brussels is betting on caution so as not to further worsen very tense relations since the violent crackdown on protests in Nicaragua in 2018.
The trigger for the new wave of indignation from the Managua leadership has been a brief European communiqué published on Tuesday, recalling the fifth anniversary of the beginning of those demonstrations for democracy that ended in “systemic repression” exercised by the regime since then. The EU wants to avoid a new pulse that could lead to another diplomatic crisis like the one in October, in which Brussels responded to the expulsion from Managua of its ambassador, Bettina Muscheidt, with the declaration of persona non grata of the Nicaraguan representative to the European institutions and with the extension for one year of sanctions against 21 Nicaraguan citizens and three Nicaraguan entities.
In Managua, the European reactions and comments to its decision, at the beginning of the year, to release and immediately deport more than 200 political prisoners who were stripped of their Nicaraguan nationality, as it did shortly thereafter with almost a hundred other dissidents, from whom it also confiscated property, have not gone down well in Managua.
Brussels has since urged Nicaragua to “revoke” its decision, recalling that such actions constitute “a violation of the fundamental rights” of those affected and “of international law,” which only “further isolates” Managua internationally. MEP Javi Lopez has indicated that “Ortega’s diplomatic escalation towards the European Union is one more sign of his international isolation and authoritarian drift.” For him, “only an inclusive dialogue with the support of the major players in the region will bring the country back to democratic standards.”