President Barack Obama has summoned the presidents of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador to Washington this Friday to discuss the worsening humanitarian crisis of unaccompanied Central American children trekking to the U.S. border.
Notably absent from the Central American lineup — probably to the relief of everyone — is Nicaraguan president and former Reagan nemesis Daniel Ortega, whose first government battled U.S.-backed contra rebels in the 1980s. But Ortega wasn’t left off the White House guest list because of old grudges. Instead, Ortega’s absence from the powwow is an indication that Nicaragua is doing something right these days.
Unlike the gang-ravaged countries of Central America’s “northern triangle”, which is hemorrhaging children at an appalling rate, Nicaragua is not a central player in the U.S. immigration crisis. In a strange way, Nicaragua’s absence from that story has become a story unto itself. And it’s a non-story that Nicaraguan officials want people to know about.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s surprise visit to Managua earlier this month underscores the fact that politically, Managua is once again closer to Moscow than Washington; no high-ranking U.S. official has visited Nicaragua since Ortega returned to power eight years ago.
Fusion’s Ted Hesson contributed reporting from Washington, D.C.