Daniel Ortega met with State Department and DEA officials in Nicaragua and announced he is “committed” to the war on drugs. An interesting angle is that he wants to affirm Nicaraguan control over islands/waters claimed by Colombia.* He brought up the issue with the U.S. officials, emphasizing that patrolling for drugs will require going beyond Colombia’s claimed boundaries.
Ortega is doing quite the balancing act. There aren’t many presidents who will chat it up with Hugo Chávez one week and the DEA the next. There also aren’t many presidents who would try to use the U.S. to get something out of Colombia.
*Interesting case, since the argument is that when Nicaragua signed agreements in the late 1920s, it was occupied by the U.S. and therefore the agreements are invalid. This is similar to the arguments Cuba uses about Guantánamo.
3 comments:
Balancing act? Looks more like a shakedown, Sandinista style.
Oh yeah, big bad Nicaragua "shakes down" the world's lone superpower. Brilliant.
Obviously, Ortega is another one of Justin's man-crushes.
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