Daniel Ortega promotes the Space Agency for Nicaragua

(CNN Español) – The President of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega, has introduced a bill to establish a “National Secretariat for Space Affairs, the Moon and other Celestial Bodies”.

Through Paul Oquist Kelley, Ortega’s private secretary for national policy, President Ortega sent a formal petition to the president of the Nicaraguan National Assembly, Gustavo Porras, on January 28.

The text indicates that national defense and the search for scientific opportunities are the reason for the establishment of the secretariat.

This initiative of the law aims to establish a national secretariat for space affairs, the moon and other celestial bodies, which will allow the Nicaraguan state to address this issue with the necessary technical and scientific rigor, with a vision of the defense of supreme citizens’ interests and seeking opportunities that we as a country should pursue in this area, in accordance with the standards of international law, ”the document said.

The text also suggests political reasons, stating that “space is the heritage of humanity and therefore cannot be the object of a nation’s appropriation.”

Nicaragua is one of the least developed countries in Latin America, according to the World Bank.

“The social and political turmoil the country has experienced since April 2018 has caused the economy to shrink by -4.0 and -3.9 percent in 2018 and 2019, respectively,” the bank said in its most recent Central American review country.

According to the latest forecast, growth is expected to decline to -5.9 percent in 2020 and slowly recover to 1.1 percent in 2021, the World Bank added.

Daniel Ortega’s government has spoken out in favor of carrying out large-scale projects through an association with businessmen from China, such as a canal similar to that of Panama in its territory. However, none has been completed so far.

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