Nicaragua has severed diplomatic relations with the Netherlands over accusations of “interventionism”, hours after the Latin American nation said it would deny entry to the new United States ambassador because of his “interfering” attitude.
“Nicaragua, faced with the repeated meddling, interventionist and neocolonialist position of the Kingdom of the Netherlands that has offended … with threats and suspensions of works for the common good, communicates to the Government of that country our decision to immediately discontinue diplomatic relations,” the foreign ministry said in a statement on Friday night.
Daniel Ortega, the president of Nicaragua, had criticized the European Union earlier in the day after learning that it would not provide funding for a long-promised hospital.
"Those who visit and disrespect our people and our country shouldn't return to Nicaragua. And we don't want to have any dealings with that interventionist government," Ortega said, referring to Christine Pirenne, the Dutch ambassador to Central America and a resident of Costa Rica.
According to the president, Pirenne notified Nicaragua's foreign minister Denis Moncada during a visit to the capital, Managua, on Thursday that the Dutch would no longer be funding a hospital they had pledged to build years earlier.
Ortega declared, "The ambassador came to talk to Nicaraguans as if Nicaragua is a Dutch colony."In 2013, the Netherlands closed its Managua offices and moved all of its diplomatic operations to Costa Rica.
The decision by Nicaragua to break diplomatic ties was denounced on Saturday by the Dutch foreign ministry.
A spokesman for the Dutch foreign ministry told AFP that it was disappointing that Nicaragua chose to react in such a disproportionate manner to a critical message about democracy and human rights.Ban on US envoy
Prior to Ortega's speech, Rosario Murillo, the vice president of Nicaragua, declared that Hugo Rodriguez, the new US envoy, "will not under any circumstances be let into our Nicaragua."
She continued by reading a statement from the foreign office on official media, "Let that be obvious to the imperialists."Despite Nicaragua having declared it will reject Rodriguez as an ambassador in July, the US Senate confirmed his appointment on Thursday.
Nicaragua claimed it made the decision to revoke its approval of Rodriguez as a result of his "disrespectful" remarks during a Senate session.
Rodriguez had called Ortega's administration a "dictatorship" and referred to Nicaragua as a "pariah state in the area."
He told the Senate, "I would support using all available economic and diplomatic measures to bring about a change in direction in Nicaragua.
He offered a number of measures, one of which was to expel Nicaragua from the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement.According to regional media and diplomatic sources, the administration summoned European Union ambassador Bettina Muscheidt to depart the nation on Wednesday without providing a reason.
Ortega also referred to the Catholic Church as a "perfect dictatorship" on Wednesday, highlighting ongoing hostilities between his government and the religious organization over protests from last year that Ortega has charged the church with supporting.
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