Nicaraguan president Ortega criticizes sanctions and interventions, calls for reconciliation

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega on Monday criticized United States foreign policy, denouncing sanctions, military interventions, and measures imposed on countries such as Cuba, while calling for global peace and reconciliation.

Speaking publicly, Ortega condemned what he described as the broad impact of coercive measures imposed by Washington. “Continuously it is launching sanctions against peoples,” he said, questioning their scope. “How many sanctions have they launched against Nicaragua? They no longer even know whom to sanction after so many sanctions here in Nicaragua.”

He also referred to what he described as the “kidnapping” of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and reiterated his criticism of the U.S. embargo on Cuba, in place for more than six decades. “Cuba has managed to survive for more than sixty years under that blockade,” Ortega stated.

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The president pointed to repeated votes at the United Nations opposing the embargo. “In the United Nations it has been voted, every year it is voted to see who is in favor of the blockade and who is against it, the immense majority of countries in the world vote against the blockade,” he said, adding that the United States disregards international opinion and “cares little about the same laws that exist in the United States.”

Ortega also addressed the human consequences of U.S. military interventions. “American soldiers have died, and logically that is a wound for the American people because the war imposed in the way it is imposed by the current president of the United States is typical of someone who has lost his head and believes he can do anything, any barbarity,” he said.

He criticized portrayals of the United States as a global “savior,” referencing imagery circulating on social media. “How many has it cured, the American people and the peoples of the world? They will be asked to account to know: it has killed because it has not saved anyone,” Ortega said, warning that the country “feels itself such a great power that it can destroy any country.”

Read the text: Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega criticized U.S. foreign policy, denouncing sanctions, military interventions, and the blockade against countries like Cuba. The president called for global peace and reconciliation.

The Nicaraguan leader recalled historical resistance to foreign intervention, citing the defeat of forces led by William Walker in the mid-19th century. He also paid tribute to Augusto C. Sandino. “Sandino defended the blue and white flag … he fought with an army with much soul, with much heart, they were barefoot peasants,” Ortega said, noting that after “eight years … they did not manage to defeat Sandino and had no choice but to withdraw.”

Concluding, Ortega called for an end to global conflicts and urged unity. “These are times in which there is nothing left but to fight with great strength, with strength of spirit, with strength of soul; to fight for peace, to fight for reconciliation, to fight for understanding among brothers,” he said. He added that ongoing wars have placed all countries, including the United States, in crisis, and expressed concern over violence in conflict zones, stating that children and women were being killed.

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