The new US ambassador to Nicaragua, Hugo Rodriguez, is not welcome in the Central American country. The government of Nicaragua made that clear on Thursday. Rodriguez is accused of “interference” and a “disrespect”.
“The Nicaraguan government, using its powers and national sovereignty, is revoking with immediate effect the authorization granted to Hugo Rodriguez,” Nicaraguan Foreign Minister Denis Moncada said in a statement.
The secretary defends that decision by referring to “disrespectful” statements the ambassador made on Thursday in the US Senate Foreign Affairs Committee. Rodriguez “cannot interfere in national affairs that concern only Nicaraguans,” it said.
Critical over Nicaragua
Rodriguez was nominated by US President Joe Biden as the new ambassador to Managua in May. But on Thursday, he stated in a US Senate committee hearing that Nicaragua is “increasingly becoming a pariah state in the region.”
He also stated that removing Nicaragua from the CAFTA-DR free trade agreement is a “very powerful means” that “should be seriously considered” for sanctioning Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega.
Relations between the US and Nicaragua have been tense since a protest against Ortega’s rule in 2018 was brutally crushed. Several hundred people died as a result. Tensions rose further after the president was elected to a fourth consecutive term in office last year. That election was dismissed by Washington as a sham, partly because several opposition candidates were arrested.