Nicaraguan VP calls Israeli official ‘hermano’
RIO DE JANEIRO (JTA) – Nicaragua’s vice president called a guest Israeli official “hermano,” or brother, seven months after the countries renewed diplomatic ties.
Rosario Murillo used the Spanish word for “brother” to speak of Modi Ephraim, head of Israel’s Foreign Ministry Division to Latin America and the Caribbean, who was expected Sunday in Managua for a two-day mission including high-level meetings with local officials, El Nuevo Diario newspaper reported.
“Brother Modi Ephraim will be coming to our country in the upcoming days,” Murillo told reporters. “He will work in a program developed by a bilateral commission, where we are emphasizing and prioritizing all the advanced technologies in that brother-country, technological irrigation for agriculture, training, everything that has to do with post-harvest production.”
The meetings will also address “the exchange between the two governments and peoples for the reestablishment of relations, which was announced and celebrated especially by many brothers of the Christian churches of our country,” she added.
Although there are some Israeli investments in Nicaragua, trade between the Central American country and Israel is low.
Over the course of just a few days in August, the tiny Jewish community in Nicaragua more than doubled when 114 people converted to Judaism by a beit din, or religious court, made up of three Orthodox-trained rabbis from Israel and the United States.
Nicaragua and Israel reestablished diplomatic relations on March 28. In 2010, the Nicaraguan government decided to cut off ties with Israel in protest against the IDF’s raid on the Turkish vessel Mavi Marmara as it attempted to break the blockade of Gaza. Nine people were killed in the incident.
“Both governments view very favorably the reestablishment of ties with the aim of advancing joint cooperation for the advancement of both nations and to contribute to the struggle to achieve peace in the world,” the Israeli Foreign Ministry said in March in a statement that also was released by Nicaragua.