The government of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo is seeking to showcase “alliances” with North Korea’s totalitarian and dynastic regime, as well as with several African countries, in an effort to obtain military backing from Kim Jong-un and counter perceptions of diplomatic isolation, according to analysts consulted by LA PRENSA.
Over the weekend, the dictatorship instructed its ambassador to North Korea, Manuel Modesto Munguía Martínez, to pay tribute to the 94th anniversary of the founding of that country’s Korean People’s Revolutionary Army. Photographs published by pro-government outlets show Munguía signing the visitors’ book and visiting a commemorative mosaic monument.
Diplomatic Ties Established in 1979
Diplomatic relations between Nicaragua and North Korea—grounded in political, ideological, and anti-U.S. alignment—date back to 1979, following the Sandinista Revolution. Ties were suspended in 1990 with the election of Violeta Barrios de Chamorro, and resumed after Ortega returned to power in 2007. However, it was not until 2024 that both countries opened reciprocal embassies in their capitals, at a time when Nicaragua’s government faces heightened international isolation over allegations of human rights violations and crimes against humanity.
Seeking Military and Cyber Warfare Support
While the Ortega-Murillo government’s rapprochement with Kim Jong-un may appear to be aimed at building alliances in the face of isolation, analysts argue that the objective runs deeper. A former official from Nicaragua’s Foreign Ministry (Minrex) said the regime is interested in strengthening ties with North Korea because it is “a regional nuclear power” that has cooperated with Iran in conflicts involving the United States and Israel, and with Russia in the war in Ukraine.
“Ortega aspires to obtain substantial military support… including assistance in hybrid warfare operations such as cyberattacks and network control, areas in which the North Koreans have excelled and carried out highly lucrative extortion campaigns against global companies,” the former official explained.
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Analyst Héctor Mairena, a member of the opposition group Unión Democrática Renovadora (Unamos), added that both governments share similarities in their totalitarian control and dynastic structures.
Mairena stressed that this relationship offers no tangible benefits for Nicaraguans but serves the regime’s interests, particularly its apparent ambition to establish a family-based dynastic succession similar to North Korea’s, where power has passed through three generations over 78 years. “The Ortega-Murillo dictatorship’s foreign policy is designed to serve its totalitarian, dynastic family project,” he said.
Outreach to African Nations To Build Support in the UN
Alongside its overtures to North Korea, the regime also issued congratulatory messages over the weekend to several African leaders and countries: Faure Essozimna Gnassingbé of Togo on the 66th anniversary of independence; Julius Maada Bio of Sierra Leone on 64 years of independence; South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and the African National Congress on Freedom Day; and Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan on Union Day. These countries are geographically distant from Nicaragua, and there is no record of significant trade relations.
According to the former Minrex official, these gestures are part of an effort to build “a network of political support within the United Nations General Assembly,” particularly after widespread condemnation from Latin American, European, and U.S. governments over human rights abuses.
“Ortega knows he has no real prospects for strengthening ties with Europe,” the former official said, adding that relations in the Americas have also become strained due to sustained criticism—culminating in Nicaragua’s withdrawal from the Organization of American States (OAS) between 2021 and 2023. Prospects within the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) are also limited, as its agenda “is not favorable” to the regime.
This situation is compounded by tensions within the Central American Integration System (SICA), which the former official says the regime has destabilized by attempting unsuccessfully to exert control over the bloc through the nomination of candidates seen as closely aligned with the government.
Without Key Allies: Cuba and Venezuela
In Latin America, Ortega and Murillo had counted on the support of Nicolás Maduro. However, Maduro was captured on January 3 in Venezuela, along with his wife Cilia Flores, by a U.S. Army Delta Force unit, and now faces drug trafficking charges in a New York court. Analysts consulted by LA PRENSA differ in their assessments of Nicaragua’s relationship with Venezuela’s current internal leadership under Delcy Rodríguez.
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Cuba remains another regional ally, but following Maduro’s fall, the Cuban government initiated talks with the administration of Donald Trump amid the island’s deepening economic crisis.
In light of this growing isolation, Ortega and Murillo are seeking support from distant nations, including some governed by authoritarian and dynastic regimes. One example is Togo, where Gnassingbé Eyadéma ruled from 1967 until 2005 after a military coup, and was succeeded by his son Faure Gnassingbé, who remains in power.
“The dictatorship is isolated across the Americas and widely rejected in Europe. It is pursuing relations with countries that have no real ties to Nicaragua in order to project that it is not isolated and, eventually, to secure votes in international bodies such as the United Nations,” Mairena concluded.
