For decades, Nicaragua has permitted the entry of foreign armed forces to conduct military exercises on its soil. Troops from the U.S., Russia, Cuba, Venezuela, Mexico, and neighboring Central American nations are given this authorization thanks to a rolling decree, reissued every two years, which seeks to allow for “mutually beneficial exchange and humanitarian assistance.”
However, the most recent renewal of this order, on June 7, has caused something of a diplomatic furor between Nicaragua and the White House.
Announced on the second day of the 2022 Summit of the Americas — to which Nicaragua was not invited — Washington saw the decree as a sign of President Daniel Ortega’s administration cozying up to Moscow, despite the fact that it offers the U.S. military much of the same benefits as Russian troops.
Brian Nichols, head of western hemisphere affairs at the U.S. State Department, said the...