Communist dictator Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua condemned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanuayu on Monday evening, calling him “Hitler” and accusing him of being the “son of the devil” days after he had the country break diplomatic ties with Israel.
Ortega, whose regime maintains close ties with Iran and other authoritarian regimes such as China and Russia, broke ties with “the fascist and genocidal government of Israel” on Friday in response to Israel’s ongoing self-defense operations against the jihadist group Hamas. Nicaragua joined the fellow authoritarian regimes of Cuba, Venezuela, and other far-left governments in the region such as Colombia in taking similar action against Israel following Hamas’ slaughter of an estimated 1,200 and other atrocities in its October 7, 2023, attack against Israel.
The dictator’s decision stemmed from a “request” by the regime-controlled Nicaraguan National Assembly, which – reportedly with the presence of diplomatic personnel from Mexico, Cuba, Russia, and the Palestinian Authority as guests – passed a motion on Friday urging Ortega to cut ties with Israel. The Assembly’s motion described Israel as the “enemy of humanity” and accused it of “endangering world peace” through the alleged “complicity and logistical and military support of the North American and European empires.”
Friday’s decision marks the third time Ortega has ordered Nicaragua cut ties with Israel, which he first did in 1982 during the Sandinista revolution and then in 2010. While the countries restored relations in March 2017, Israel did not have an ambassador stationed in Managua.
Three days later, on Monday evening, Ortega attacked Netanyahu during an official event to mark the 45h anniversary of the Nicaraguan police, comparing him and Israel’s actions to that of Adolf Hitler during Nazi Germany. The communist dictator, a close ally of Russia,
availed himself of the opportunity to also lash out against Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky immediately afterwards. Zelensky, like Netanyahu, is Jewish.
“At the head of the government of Israel is a prime minister who is the son of the devil because he carries in practice a policy of terror and he is Hitler,” Ortega said in his speech.
“He is Hitler, yes, the prime minister of Israel is Hitler installed there calling for the destruction of the peoples,” he continued. He then accused Zelensky of being “another Nazi, another son of Hitler, wanting to commit NATO to go to war against the Russian Federation.”
Ortega also accused the United States and European nations of “using” and arming Israel to lead the planet towards a “total war” and called to “fight” to put an end to Israel’s self-deense operations against Hamas in Gaza, which he called a “genocide.”
“There, where the imperialists rise up, where the coup plotters rise up, where the fascists rise up, they feel that they are already winning the battle and so they express it,”Ortega said.
“We cannot be calm, because we have peace and stability, because we would be selfish. We have to bring the fight, the battle to put an end to this genocide that is being committed against the Palestinian people, that is being committed in neighboring towns, in neighboring nations,” he continued at another point on his speech.
Ortega also thanked Cuba, Venezuela, China, and Russia for their “cooperation and conditional solidarity” with his regime. China, under the auspices of Ortega, has significantly gained control of the country’s gold and other resources in addition to loaning growing sums of money to Nicaragua for infrastructure projects under the predatory Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) debt trap program.
Russia has provided the Sandinista regime with direct training for its police officers, teaching them how to repress dissidents following the 2018 wave of anti-communist protests in the country. Russia has also reportedly turned a Nicaraguan military base into one of its main spy centers in the region, run by Russian personnel under the security of Nicaraguan officials.
“Nicaragua is achieving better peace conditions, but without forgetting the people who are struggling because they are being murdered, as is happening with the Palestinian people,” Ortega said.
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.
