Nicaragua’s government on Saturday launched a blistering attack on Spain and Foreign Minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya, accusing Madrid of interference in its affairs and imperial attitudes towards the Central American nation.

Nicaragua’s foreign ministry, in a four-page letter addressed to Gonzalez Laya, accused her of making “offensive statements” about Nicaragua and President Daniel Ortega, and “showing daring ignorance and ferocity improper for diplomacy”.

The letter does not specify which remarks by the Spanish foreign minister offended Nicaragua’s leftist government.

Over the past few weeks the Spanish government had urged Nicaragua to release prominent opposition leaders who had been detained in a widespread crackdown by the Ortega’s government ahead of presidential elections in November.

Spain’s embassy in Nicaragua did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In the crackdown, Ortega’s government has arrested about 20 political opponents, including five presidential hopefuls, ahead of the presidential vote in which the long-ruling leader will run for a fourth consecutive term.

Nicaragua’s clash with Spain represents a sharp reversal of the cordial relations in recent years between Nicaragua and Spain, which is ruled by the socialist government of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez Perez-Castejon.

The United States and many Western powers have criticised the crackdown, warning that democracy was under threat by Ortega’s authoritarian move to arrest all his political opponents.

In the letter, Nicaragua also singled out Spain’s ambassador in Nicaragua, Maria del Mar Fernandez-Palacios Carmona, for criticism.

Fernandez-Palacios was “just a pale reflection of an interfering, intrusive, badly educated, spoiled, capricious, devitalized and servile policy” that was submissive to the United States, the letter stated.

The letter also highlighted crimes committed by colonial administrations when Spain controlled the area from the 16th century until Nicaragua’s independence in 1821, and to the indigenous people of Latin America.

While Ortega often brings up imperialism in stump speeches, it is usually directed at the United States.

Reuters

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