Daniel Ortega, who governs Nicaragua alongside his wife and co-president Rosario Murillo, has called for the “disappearance” of the United Nations (UN).
In a speech televised on state channels, Ortega said that the UN “no longer serves any purpose,” EFE reported.
He added: “It must be refounded, and refounding it means its disappearance.”
The speech was given on Saturday, during an event commemorating the 46th anniversary of the Sandinista Revolution: a political uprising that overthrew the Somoza dictatorship in 1979. The Somoza family ruled Nicaragua for 44 years, during which time approximately 50,000 people were killed. July 19 has been observed as a national holiday since 1980.
Ortega claimed that the UN “is united by the powerful,” and “those who wield atomic power.” He also alleged that the organization failed to adequately respond to “Zionist aggression” by Israel and the U.S., claiming that they are trying to make Palestine “disappear.”
He described Israel as “confessed criminals,” saying the state is “armed by the Europeans, armed by the United States, because they want to take over that entire region, and they are doing it quietly. They are killing every day.”
He went on to claim that the UN “is nothing more than an instrument of imperialist countries, of the countries that want to dominate the world.”
Ortega proceeded to condemn the U.S. for its immigration policy and its deportations of Venezuelan and Salvadoran immigrants: “crimes” which the president says the UN did not sufficiently try to prevent. He asked: “And what does the United Nations say? What does the United Nations do? The crimes are plain to see.”
No heads of state were present at the event, but a representative from China spoke at the ceremony, stating that there had been a “great leap” and “comprehensive deepening” of diplomatic relations between the two countries, adding that China is keen to “increase and deepen bilateral cooperation.”
Palestine’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Varsen Aghabekian, was the highest-ranking official in attendance.
In February, the Nicaraguan government withdrew from the UN Human Rights Council after the organization published an appeal to the international community to address human rights violations conducted by Ortega and Murillo’s government.
In the report, the UN accused the government of having “transformed the country into an authoritarian state where no independent institutions remain,” urging legal action. Murillo described the report as “falsehoods” and “slander”.
Four months later, in June, Nicaragua removed itself from the UN’s refugee agency (UNHCR). The move came after the government accused the UN of “biased and partial” reports about Nicaraguans who had fled the country and sought refuge abroad.
In one report, the UNHCR stated that humanitarian needs were reaching “critical levels” in Costa Rica due to an uptick in refugees from Nicaragua, while another claimed that “people [were] fleeing into Costa Rica daily.”
A letter published by the Nicaraguan government accused the UN of being “an instrument of manipulation, double standards, and interference in the internal affairs of states.”
Featured image credit:
Image: Daniel Ortega at his inauguration ceremony
Photographer: Cancillería del Ecuador
Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/10021639@N05/6679779009
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/
