EFE via 14ymedio, Havana, 29 April 2018 — Today Cuba denounced attempts to “destabilize” Nicaragua, rejected “interference in its internal affairs” and reaffirmed Cuba’s support for Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega in his efforts to solve the crisis of violence in the country, where at least 42 people have already died.
The official declaration, signed by the Cuban Foreign Ministry, “denounces the attempts aimed at destabilizing the Republic of Nicaragua, a country that lives in peace and where remarkable social, economic and security advances have been made in favor of its people.”
The Cuban foreign ministry is reacting to the protests that have been taking place in the Central American country since April 18, due to the failed social security reform promoted by Ortega’s government. Several sectors of the population are demanding that Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, both resign.
The demonstrations are continuing despite the fact that the Nicaraguan president withdrew his proposed measures.
Since the protests began a week ago, violent clashes have left at least 42 dead and 48 missing, according to the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (Cenidh).
In the statement, Cuba’s Foreign Ministry noted its “commitment to the principles of the proclamation of Latin America and the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace,” signed in 2014 by the heads of the State of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), and rejected “interference in the internal affairs of our sister nation.”
“The Foreign Ministry supports the sovereign efforts of the people and the Sandinista Government of Nicaragua, chaired by Commander Daniel Ortega and Vice President Rosario Murillo, to preserve the dialogue, peace and well-being of Nicaraguans,” concluded the text, which was aired on Cuban state television.
Nicaragua and Cuba have maintained close relations during periods in which the Central American country has been governed by Ortega, which in the first period covered the entire decade of the 1980s, followed by a second period that began in 2007.
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