Diplomatic Rugby in Nicaragua

After reporters corrected Nicaragua’s deputy foreign minister Manuel Coronel Kautz for calling Dutch Member of European Parlaiment Hans vanBaalen a German, Kautz proceeded to publicly dismiss Holland as a “crappy little country.” Now that’s what I call diplomacy.

The foreign ministry later apologized, but maintained its accusation that van Baalen was a meddler for holding a press conference in the capital in which he lambasted a  Supreme Court ruling, which was executed by Sandinista judges like a guerrilla ambush, to open the way for President Daniel Ortega to seek reelection.

There is some debate over how best to translate “paisucho”, the title Kautz gave Holland. Translations range from “shitty country” to “two-bit country” to my translation of choice.

Van Baalen, a highly photogenic bureacrat who insists politics is more like rugby than tennis,  called Ortega, a revolutionary who was jailed and tortured, a “coward.” A foreign ministry official promptly  asked van Baalen to leave the country.

Van Baalen’s visit made for great entertainment in a country where going to the stadium to drink $0.75 beers while watching potbellied pro baseball players drop fly balls is about as showbiz as it gets.  It was also a nice exercise in free speech before a leader whose supporters tend to mob rush anyone who protest against him.  But a such diplomatic scrums won’t stop Ortega’s push to stay in power. Over the past three decades, he’s charily been tightening his grip on the country’s institutions, including the courts, police and army, and is less reliant on U.S. and European aid thanks to his oil-rich ally’s 21st century revolution.