In case further proof was needed that the Organization of American States (OAS) has become embarrassingly incompetent, witness its pathetic response to Nicaragua’s invasion of Costa Rica. On November 13, the organization passed a resolution calling for Managua to withdraw its military forces from Calero Island (located in the San Juan River). Nicaragua refused to comply, and its president, Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega, angrily threatened to withdraw his country from the OAS. As of December 7, when the institution hosted a meeting of foreign officials to discuss the matter, Nicaraguan troops were still occupying the river island, which has always been considered part of Costa Rican territory. Yet rather than sanction Nicaragua for its behavior, the OAS merely reiterated its earlier demands. It imposed no diplomatic penalty or punishment. This amounted to a whitewash of Ortega’s aggression.
The Obama administration recently performed its own whitewash when it agreed to give Nicaragua another $65 million in development funds through the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), which was created by George W. Bush to reward poor countries that demonstrate progress on political and economic reform. Ortega, needless to say, is not a reformer: During his latest stint in the Nicaraguan presidency, the Sandinista boss has stolen municipal elections, trampled the constitution, harassed political opponents, pursued a strategic alliance with Iran, and used Venezuelan oil money to consolidate his power. Yet the Nicaraguan regime has now been promised more MCC funds, even though Ortega refuses to end his illegal military occupation of a neighboring country that does not have an army of its own.
