Ortega justifies break with Taiwan, claims ideological affinity with China

Daniel Ortega justified on December 10th his breaking diplomatic relations with one of Nicaragua’s main contributors, Taiwan, alleging the existence of a supposed “revolutionary twinning agreement” and a historical political and ideological affinity with mainland China. 

Ortega referred to the issue in a long speech that lasted hours, broadcast by a national network imposed by Telcor on radio, television and cable. It was an intervention full of erratic and confusing moments on the part of the dictator, tempered by Rosario Murillo’s whispers, who corrected him and even demanded that he speed up the speech.

In his justification, Ortega recalled the relationship between Taiwan and Nicaragua during Somocismo, going through the establishment of diplomatic relations with People’s China in 1985, the break with the Asian giant in 1990 and the relationship with Taiwan, without mentioning that his government benefited from their cooperation until it ended with the break announced this Thursday, December 9th.

During his recount, Ortega ignored the significance of the economic support provided by Taiwan to his Government in the almost 15 years he has been in power, focusing only on the great power of China’s economy and its ideological, political and revolutionary ties. The times that Ortega mentioned Taiwan in his account, was to emphasize that this nation is part of People’s China, and that the United Nations has recognized this in a resolution.

“There is a historic and political link. Now the People’s Republic of China is a first-rate power. It is a given that in a few years it will be the world’s leading economy, above the United States. China has been making progress in its relations with Latin America and the Caribbean and there is even a meeting point for the countries that are in CELAC, with China,” said Ortega.

Taiwan’s cooperation with Nicaragua

For two consecutive years (2020, and the first three quarters of 2021), Taiwan was the most generous bilateral donor with the Nicaraguan public sector. Taiwanese support for Nicaraguan finances and projects was even more generous in 2021, by pledging 1,051 million cordobas (about 29.7 million dollars), to be shared among various ministries. And more than 800 million cordobas have already been executed, according to the 2021 January-September Budget Execution Report, published by the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit. (1 USD = approx. 35.5 Cordobas)

The governmental entity that has most benefited from this support is the National System for the Prevention, Mitigation and Attention to Disasters (SINAPRED), to which 545.6 million cordobas were assigned, of which 213.1 million are for the Program “Attention to Hurricanes ETA and IOTA Emergencies”, while another 176.9 million, are to finance the “Plan Techo” (pillars and tin roofing) for the housing of families affected by both hurricanes.

Similarly, 88.4 million cordobas were assigned to the Covid-19 Food Emergency Project. At the same time, 60.1 million were designated for the construction of solidarity housing, and 7.1 million for support for families affected by Hurricane Eta.

The hoax of the grand canal: a “living project,” says Ortega

“Since we came to Government (2007), we have been searching for the moment and working to reestablish relations with the People’s Republic of China. There were even projects being implemented, those projects are alive, with a company from China, which is the grand canal project,” added Ortega.

Monday, December 6, marked the passing of seven years since Ortega and the mysterious Chinese businessman, Wang Jing, inaugurated the works of the supposed interoceanic canal, a project that never got off the ground and has remained stagnant in Ortega’s promises. A recently disclosed mysterious annual budget item showed 45 million cordobas for the governmental entity that supervises the canal project, despite the fact that the works never took off.

Ortega calls the criticism from the State Department “ridiculous”

Ortega called the statements of the State Department “ridiculous”, after a press release in which they said that the breaking of diplomatic relations between Nicaragua and Taiwan deprives Nicaraguans of “a firm partner in their democratic and economic growth.”

“Taiwan’s relationships with diplomatic partners in the Western Hemisphere provide significant economic and security benefits to the citizens of those countries. We encourage all countries that value democratic institutions, transparency, the rule of law, and promoting economic prosperity for their citizens to expand engagement with Taiwan,” the State department added.

“There goes a Yankee spokesman, protesting because we re-established relations with the People’s Republic of China. These are totally absurd, ludicrous things, because the Yankee spokespersons always protest when these countries, which they call their backyard, open relations with China,” added Ortega.

The attack on political prisoners

Ortega took advantage of his speech to unleash virulent words of hatred against his political prisoners, to once again describe them as “terrorists, murderers, plotters and traitors to the homeland,” insisting that they were financed by the United States to overthrow him in 2018.

Although he did not mention his name, he alluded to his brother, retired general Humberto Ortega Saavedra, whom he described as an “idiot” for saying on Spanish CNN that none of the political prisoners are a terrorists, as the regime insists.

“They are such terrorists that they would be willling to put four bullets into someone who comes out talking on television that they are not terrorists. He is an idiot, what an idiot, he thinks that they accept him. They frown at him, and he does not even realize that they would willingly riddle him with bullets,” said Ortega, while Murillo could be heard laughing.

In July, in an interview on the Oppenheimer Presenta program, on the Spanish CNN international network, retired general Humberto Ortega Saavedra, former chief of the Nicaraguan Armed Forces, assured that the opponents arrested by the regime of his brother, Daniel Ortega, “are not terrorists” or “traitors to the homeland,” as the Sandinista Government has described them.

“I am clear that those who are detained are not terrorists, nor have they attempted against the stability of the country. They are simply opponents who have a different point of view, as I do,” he said.

This was Daniel Ortega’s first public intervention in a little over a month. Before this Friday’s speech, his last appearance was on November 8 at an event to celebrate his “reelection” after the November 7 vote, carried out without political competition, with zero transparency, the imprisonment of opponents and generalized repression against civil society and independent media.

That night, Ortega dedicated his most virulent hate speech against political prisoners, calling them “sons of bitches of imperialism,” while attacking the international community, mainly the European Union and the United States, whom he called “fascists” and “Nazis” because of the condemnation and refusal to recognize the November 7 voting process.

Ortega made a brief reappearance on December 7, in a family prayer session at his residence and office in El Carmen. He was shown in official media images wearing an Adidas sport outfit, which recalled the outfit that Cuban dictator Fidel Castro also wore in his later years.

In the images, he was seated next to Murillo, and both were surrounded by several sons, daughters, daughters-in-law, sons-in-law, and grandchildren, participating in a private prayer to celebrate the “Gritería” in honor of the Immaculate Conception.

This article was originally published in Spanish in Confidencial and translated by Havana Times