Nicaragua Seizes Former Taiwanese Embassy

In regional news, this week the Nicaraguan government took over the embassy used by the diplomatic mission from Taiwan, saying the property belongs to China.  This follows the breaking of diplomatic relations between Nicaragua and Taiwan in early December.  President Daniel Ortega’s government said at the time they would only be recognizing mainland China from now on. According to international news agencies, the displaced Taiwanese diplomats had hoped to donate the former embassy property to the Catholic Church in Managua.  The Nicaraguan Attorney General’s office characterized the proposed action as an attempt to take what “doesn’t belong to them.”  Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry has condemned what it calls “gravely illegal actions by the Ortega regime.”  It also alleges Nicaragua only gave Taiwanese diplomats two weeks to leave the country.