Nicaraguan dictatorship dismisses ambassador to Brazil

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

Through presidential decree 23-2023, the Nicaraguan dictator annulled Martínez’s appointment as ambassador to Brazil, to which she had been appointed on July 1, 2013.

Nicaragua’s Foreign Minister, retired General Denis Moncada Colindres, appointed Gadiel Osmani Arce Zepeda to the Minister-Counselor position with Nicaragua’s consular duties in Brazil.

These changes in the Nicaraguan diplomatic delegation in Brazil come nine days after the Brazilian government offered to receive the 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.

At the time, Brazil changed its tone and expressed concern over “reports of serious human rights violations and restrictions to democratic space in that country, particularly summary executions, arbitrary detentions and torture against political dissidents.

Earlier, the PT administration had been criticized for not having signed a document condemning the Nicaraguan dictatorship during a United Nations Human Rights Council meeting.

54 countries supported the report.

However, in principle, removing the ambassador to Brazil would only be a protocol measure, 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Nicaragua has withdrawn the nationality of 317 Nicaraguans, among them writers Sergio Ramírez and Gioconda Belli, bishops Rolando Álvarez and Silvio Báez, former revolutionary commander Luis Carrión, former guerrilla Dora María Téllez, veteran rights defender Vilma Núñez, and journalist Carlos Fernando Chamorro, among others, all highly critical of Daniel Ortega’s government.

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