Nicaragua’s communist regime announced on Thursday that it wants to rejoin South Africa’s “genocide” case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) after having recently withdrawn from it due to its “high financial cost.”
The Central American country, led by dictatorial couple Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo, was one of the several leftist-led nations that formally requested to intervene in South Africa’s ICJ case against Israel. The Ortega regime, which presented the corresponding formalities at the ICJ in February 2024, recently withdrew its request on the grounds that the court proceedings incurred “high financial costs” for the self-described “developing country.”
On Thursday, the communist regime issued a new press note, titled “Nicaragua and Palestine,” reiterating that Nicaragua withdrew from the ICJ judicial process against Israel due to the “high financial cost” but that it has now decided to rejoin the case due to a “resurgence in violence against the Palestinian people” that allegedly occurred last week.
The Ortega regime also claimed it has allegedly received “offers of help and collaboration” to continue its participation but abstained from disclosing further details. Rosario Murillo, dictator Ortega’s wife and “co-president,” read a copy of the statement in remarks given to state media.
The statement read:
However, in the last week there has been a resurgence in violations against the Palestinian people and even against international humanitarian services, leaving in full evidence the violation of all norms of international law by Israel and the total complicity particularly of some Western countries, which have decided to continue their political, economic and military support to those responsible for these crimes.
In view of the above, making a great effort, Nicaragua has decided to notify the International Court of Justice that it wishes to continue with the judicial processes for the violations of the rights of the Palestinian people.
This decision has also been taken taking into account the offers of help and collaboration that have been received in order to be able to continue with these processes before the International Court.
During her remarks, Murillo said the Ortega regime received an invitation from the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) to take part in its efforts to launch an “International Conference to launch a World Front against Apartheid, Colonialism and Genocide underway.”
The goal of PLO’s efforts, Murillo explained, is to “expel the occupying state from all international bodies.”
“Together and in the same trench, we advance against Imperialism and Zionism, until we defeat their projects in our region, in the world, in Palestine, until our people reach their freedom and independence,” Murillo, reading from the invitation letter, said, and added that the Ortega regime “gladly” accepted the invitation to join the event against “colonialism, apartheid, these extermination policies of ethnic cleansing.”
“The just, brave, heroic struggle of the peoples of the world and the Palestinian people. Twinned, as we have always been, in the combats, in the battles, and in the victories,” Murillo said.
The Nicaraguan newspaper La Prensa published a copy of PLO’s letter to the Ortega regime on Thursday.
At the time of filing its original request to intercede in South Africa’s ICJ “genocide” case against Israel, the Ortega regime accused Israel of standing in “violation of its obligations under the Genocide Convention” through its self-defense operations against the jihadist terror group Hamas.
In addition to its plans to intervene in South Africa’s case against Israel, Nicaragua launched a separate ICJ lawsuit against Germany on July 2024 on accusations that Germany is “facilitating the genocide” in Gaza by providing military aid to Israel.
La Prensa pointed out on Sunday that, although the Ortega regime justified its decision to withdraw from the South African case due to its “high financial costs,” it nevertheless maintains its case against Germany. Exiled Nicaraguan dissidents who spoke to La Prensa on Sunday questioned the “financial” justifications of exiting the Israel case given that Nicaragua’s lawsuit against Germany costs more than participating in South Africa’s case against Israel, as it is a direct action and not an adherence to another cause.
Félix Maradiaga, a former political prisoner, asserted at the time that the Ortega regime uses the “Palestinian cause” as an international platform to project a favorable image while it continues to repress its own people, stressing that “it is not about principles or solidarity with Palestine. It is about a dictatorship that calculates every step in terms of its survival.”
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.
