When asked about the situation in Nicaragua, he became defensive: “the sanctions against Nicaragua were brought by me personally and by Spain to the Council table,” the minister proudly declared.
And, according to Albares, “no Minister of Foreign Affairs in the world, certainly not in Europe speaks clearly about Nicaragua” as he does.
“If I am the Minister of Foreign Affairs who is doing the best for Nicaragua in the world, how can I not want a democratic regime for the country,” he said.
The Spanish minister lied, it is not known whether out of malice or ignorance, because he had nothing to do with the debate on sanctions or their application in the European Union.
The EU adopted the legal framework to justify the measures against Nicaragua on October 14, 2019, with the Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell currently responsible for European diplomacy at that time.
Neither did they prevail with or because of Albares’ pressure. The first sanctions were applied on May 4, 2020, when the head of the Foreign Ministry was Arancha González Laya.
José Manuel Albares was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs on July 10, 2021. What should have been blamed – and was not – was the extension of the 2019 measures until 2022 and the new sanctions implemented after the general elections in 2021 that the Spanish representative described as “electoral fraud.”
However, it is also not exclusively his merit, because it is the result of the debates held between all the ministers of the Member States, that Borrell already holds the position of high representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and vice-president of the Commission. European.
