The communist dictator of Nicaragua Daniel Ortega called for the “disappearance of the United States” in remarks over the weekend marking the 45th anniversary of the rise of power of the Sandinista revolution in 1979.
Ortega has controlled Nicaragua for nearly three decades, having first risen to power in 1979 after the Sandinistas overthrew the dictatorship of Anastasio Somoza, and ruled until 1990, when he lost that year’s election to Violeta Barrios de Chamorro. Ortega returned to power in 2007 after winning that year’s election and installed himself a dictator, clinging to power by holding highly fraudulent elections and repressing opponents or general dissidents to his communist rule.
The Ortega regime’s celebrations of the 45th anniversary of the Sandinista revolution on Friday saw the communist dictator accompanied by envoys from the like-minded allies of Cuba, Russia, China, Iran, and Venezuela, among others. Some of the event’s special guests included Russian Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin, who read a message from strongman Vladimir Putin in which he highlighted the “ties of friendship” between both countries.
Ortega made his call for the disappearance of the United States — Nicaragua’s main trading partner — as he was condemning the U.S. for its support of Israel and its self-defense operations against the jihadist terrorist organization Hamas in Gaza. Similar to other leftist regimes in the region, Ortega has accused Israel of commiting “genocide” in its self-defense operations against Hamas.
“If we go with that philosophy, we should call for the disappearance of the United States. The first one that should disappear is that State, which is the greatest criminal that humanity has, and not only to go around assassinating peoples, occupying countries, as has happened here in Nicaragua,” Ortega said.
“I believe that the time will come when the American people will have no other way but to change, to change towards governments that have respect for the laws, respect for the people, respect for children, respect for schools, respect for immigrants,” he continued.
Ortega also accused the United States of allegedly waging a “war” against immigrants, which he described to be “against the rights of the human species, the right of the human species to be able to move anywhere on Earth.”
Since 2022, Ortega has been implementing a plan that some experts have described as the “weaponization” of U.S. bound migrants against the United States, allowing migrants from South America, African, and Asian nations to land on Managua’s international airport and pass through Nicaragua on their route north. Experts have accused Ortega of facilitating mass migration to force the U.S. government to engage in potential sanctions relief talks with the ruling communists.
The Ortega regime has also allowed a dramatic expansion of the number of charter flights that land in Nicaragua, a growing trend among migrant travel routes to the United States. The expansion of charter flight operations has allowed the arrival of charter planes from nations that normally do not have a direct flight route with the country such as Libya.
According to official statistics from the Nicaraguan government, Ortega’s plans have resulted in roughly 322,400 migrants passing through Nicaragua towards the United States in 2022 and roughly 306,300 in 2023. The communist regime has also raked in multi-million dollar profits that have allowed it to overturn more than a decade of continued financial losses at its airport.
While the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden has implemented measures to reduce the flow of migrants coming from Nicaragua, such as imposing sanctions on charter flight operators, reports published by the Nicaraguan newspaper La Prensa in June found that the Biden administration’s measures have been “insufficient” and the flow remains “constant and almost unchanged.”
La Prensa warned that the Ortega regime “will have easily put” almost one million migrants in the United States by the end of 2024 if the trend continues unchanged.
Ortega referred to the United States’ and Europe’s efforts to reduce migration from Nicaragua by accusing America and Europe of being “the biggest enemies of migrants.”
“Who did those who came from Europe to these countries ask for permission, and were they not immigrants? They came to invade these countries to steal the lands of our ancestors,” Ortega ranted. “Who did they ask for permission to invade North American territory in what is now the United States and Canada? Who did they ask for permission? They simply decided to go there.”
“This war they have against immigrants simply goes against the rights of the human species to be able to move anywhere on earth and it is a right that they, the powers, have taken for themselves,” he continued.
The Nicaraguan dictator, who has openly supported Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, expressed in his speech that he is confident in an eventual Moscow victory in the conflict. He branded European nations supporting Ukraine “colonialists,” “criminals,” and “murderers” and accused them of arming “Nazi and fascist forces in Ukraine.”
“In Ukraine, fascism is being installed again and from Europe the Europeans — not the European peoples, but the European governments — most of them are strengthening fascism,” Ortega claimed, “and feeding a war aimed at trying to achieve what Napoleon did not achieve, what Hitler did not achieve.”
Ortega concluded by referring to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as a “Nazi.” Zelensky is of Jewish ancestry and lost family in World War II.
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.
