Colombia recalls ambassador to Nicaragua over Ortega comments

Colombia has recalled its ambassador to Nicaragua over comments by the Central American country's President Daniel Ortega, in which he referred to Colombia as a "narco-state," it said on Wednesday, urging the international community to intervene.

Colombia has recalled its ambassador to Nicaragua over comments by the Central American country's President Daniel Ortega, in which he referred to Colombia as a "narco-state," it said on Wednesday, urging the international community to intervene. Colombia's government does not recognize the result of Nicaragua's elections last November that resulted in Ortega winning a fourth consecutive term. Rights groups and other countries in the region have also raised concerns.

"Colombia (is) a country that is a narco-state, where they murder social leaders and workers every day," Ortega said during a speech on Monday to mark the death of Nicaraguan revolutionary Augusto Cesar Sandino. Colombia's government on Tuesday ordered the country's Ambassador Alfredo Rangel to submit a letter of protest to the Nicaraguan government and to return home, Colombia's foreign ministry said in a statement.

"Colombia is precisely the victim of drug trafficking, we are the victim of a business that grows every day due to exponential demand and drug consumption," Colombia's Foreign Minister and Vice President Marta Lucia Ramirez said in an audio message shared with journalists. Ortega's comments were an attempt to distract the international community from the human rights situation in Nicaragua, Ramirez said, and called on the international community to intervene to prevent the Central American country from becoming a dictatorship.

"When there's no independent justice, when there are no guarantees for people who are under investigation, we're on the way to a dictatorship and the international community must intervene," she said.

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