Nicaraguan dictatorship dismisses ambassador to Brazil

The dictator of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega, dismissed this Thursday (16) Lorena del Carmen Martínez as Nicaragua’s ambassador to Brazil, according to the official newspaper La Gaceta.

Through Presidential Decree number 23-2023, the Nicaraguan dictator annulled Martínez’s nomination as ambassador to Brazil, to which she had been appointed on July 1, 2013.

Nicaragua’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, retired General Denis Moncada Colindres, has appointed Gadiel Osmani Arce Zepeda to the post of Counselor Minister with consular duties for Nicaragua in Brazil.

These changes to Nicaragua’s diplomatic delegation in Brazil come nine days after the Brazilian government offered to receive more than 300 opponents and critics of the Ortega government who lost their nationality in recent weeks.

This measure allows stateless persons to reside in Brazil and, after regularizing their immigration status, also enables them to apply for Brazilian nationality.

On the occasion, Brazil changed its tone and expressed concern about “reports of serious human rights violations and restrictions on the democratic space in that country, particularly summary executions, arbitrary arrests and torture against political dissidents”.

Earlier, the PT administration had been criticized for not having signed a document condemning the Nicaraguan dictatorship during a meeting of the United Nations Human Rights Council. The report was supported by 54 countries.

However, at first, the dismissal of the ambassador to Brazil would only be a protocol measure and not a response to last week’s criticism.

Also on Thursday, Ortega dismissed Marvin Roberto Ortega Rodríguez as Nicaragua’s ambassador to Panama and appointed another minister counselor with consular duties to the embassy in Panama.

Nicaragua has withdrawn the nationality of 317 Nicaraguans, including writers Sergio Ramírez and Gioconda Belli, bishops Rolando Álvarez and Silvio Báez, former revolutionary commander Luis Carrión, former guerrilla fighter Dora María Téllez, veteran rights defender Vilma Núñez and journalist Carlos Fernando Chamorro, among others, all very critical of the Daniel Ortega government.

Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, Spain and Mexico offered shelter and nationality to Nicaraguans affected by the statelessness measure, which Sergio Ramírez (Ecuador) and Gioconda Belli (Chile) have already accepted.