Beijing-based Poly Technologies is sanctioned by the United States.
The socialist government of Nicaragua has announced a contract with a Chinese state-owned company to provide military equipment for its army, making its alliance with China’s communist regime even stronger.
The contract with Beijing-based Poly Technologies, also known as PolyTech, was part of a series of agreements signed on May 11 by a delegation led by Nicaraguan presidential adviser Laureano Ortega to the China–Community of Latin American and Caribbean States Forum, according to state-run media.
Laureano Ortega, the son of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and Nicaraguan Co-president Rosario Murillo, serves as a presidential adviser for investment, trade, and international cooperation.
“The contracts and cooperation that have been signed are … with the Poly company for equipment for the Nicaraguan Army,” Murillo said in a telephone conversation with state media on May 12, without giving further details.
She said the administration is “happy and proud of how [it is] moving forward and strengthening [its] ties for development and justice through peace.”
Besides the defense contract, both delegations signed agreements in the areas of telecommunications, transportation, energy, and infrastructure.
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PolyTech was established in 1984 and is engaged in the export of weapons, ammunition, military technology, and advanced defense systems. It is sanctioned by the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control for business activities that assist the Russian military.
The strengthening of relations between the two nations comes after Nicaragua cut relations with Taiwan in December 2021 to meet terms for establishing relations with Beijing.
Taiwan has been a self-governing island since 1949, although Beijing considers the island a part of its territory and has threatened to bring it under its control, by force if necessary.
At the end of 2021, Nicaragua turned over to China the facilities occupied by the Taiwanese Embassy, which Taipei intended to donate to the Catholic Church, according to Voice of America.
In November 2022, China supplied an unknown amount of equipment to the National Police of Nicaragua, an institution that the United States has sanctioned for violating the human rights of citizens of the Central American country, Voice of America reported.
The National Police is headed by Francisco Díaz Madriz, Daniel Ortega’s father-in-law. It is accused of repressing Nicaraguan dissidents who are critical of the leader, who has been in power for more than 15 years.
In 2018, the police were accused of killing more than 300 civilians protesting Ortega. The United States has sanctioned the entity as well as Díaz Madriz.
