Nicaraguan president clashes with Chilean, Colombian counterparts over rights accusations

By Laura Gamba

BOGOTA, Colombia (AA) - Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega responded to statements by the leaders of Chile and Colombia, who accused Ortega's government of repressing opposition leaders and violating human rights.

Ortega referred to Colombian President Gustavo Petro as a "traitor" and urged his counterpart to close US bases in his country. He also accused Petro of "betraying" guerrillas he fought alongside decades ago.

"There are those who remain steadfast throughout history... others walk calmly one day, and when conditions become adverse, cowardice makes them recant, cowardice makes them become agents of the Yankee empire and makes them betray," he said in a speech commemorating the 44th anniversary of the police force in his Nicaragua on Tuesday.

“Petro said that he was anti-imperialist when he was with the guerrillas. What are you waiting for, Petro, to remove the Yankee military bases from Colombia?”

Ortega said under the presidency of Gabriel Boric, Chile continues to be bound by laws from the era of dictator Augusto Pinochet. He accused Boric of coming to power with left-wing support but subsequently abandoning his political base.

"Those crimes that you can't cover, you can't cover them up, Boric, you are a pinochetito, Boric," he said.

Hours earlier, on a visit to Chile, the Colombian president expressed solidarity with exiled Nicaraguan poet Gioconda Belli, who wrote on X that Ortega sent police to confiscate her residence in Managua.

"What a paradox! Here, in Chile, I tour the homes of Chilean poets whose homes were raided and murdered by the dictatorship and Ortega does the same as Pinochet," Petro wrote.

The Chilean leader has also blamed the Nicaraguan government for human rights violations and the repression of protests in 2018, as well the exile of opposition leaders and activists, including Belli.