Daniel Ortega Asks Barack Obama to "Stop Killing People in Afghanistan"

May 9, 2009

Managua, May 9

The president of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega, today asked his American counterpart to stop "killing innocent people in Afghanistan" and condemned the "crimes and genocides" that, he said, the American air force is committing in that country.

In a speech given in Free San Francisco, 50 miles north of Managua, Ortega said that (the situation) pains him and he condemns the fact that "other countries are suffering bombings."

The head of state said that Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez told Obama yesterday to stop killing and massacring innocent people in other countries.

"We are completely in agreement and we join that call that President Hugo Chavez has made and, from Free San Francisco, we tell President Barack Obama to stop killing people, children, defenseless women," said Ortega.

According to the chief executive, the bombings by the American air force in Afghanistan have caused more than 100 deaths in recent days.

"There have been changes in the United States because now George W. Bush is not president, but the bombings continue as though Bush were still there and these deaths in Afghanistan now can't be charged to Bush; now there's another president of the United States, one who should do everything possible to avoid these crimes and genocides," said Ortega.

The head of state also lashed out at the European Parliament for not condemning those crimes and attacked those he called "right wing forces" for having approved a resolution condemning Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua for violations of human rights.

He pointed out that the European Parliament approved that resolution "calmly, in a policy of interference that doesn't want to break with its colonial past, and seeks to disqualify Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua, as though there is no democracy in these countries."

He added that, "they approved that resolution simply because in these countries (Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela) traitors and oligarchs don't govern."

The head of state defended what he called the "resistance of the Afghan people, which has the right to struggle against being occupied and bombed."

He also attacked the International Court of Human Rights and the Organization of American States, which he called "garbage" for not condemning the United States for these crimes.

"In Nicaragua we face crises but we are at peace and we don't have the least fear that the American air force will bomb our country," said Ortega.

The head of state today inaugurated a dock in Free San Francisco, constructed with an investment of $1.5 million in order to improve transportation and encourage tourism in that town.

Source:

"Daniel Ortega pide a Barack Obama que 'deje de matar gente en Afganistan,'" www.univision.com