Free Republic

UNITED NATIONS — A former Nicaraguan foreign minister who once called President Ronald Reagan “the butcher of my people” has been appointed to represent Libya at the United Nations after its delegate was denied a visa, the Nicaraguan government said on Wednesday. Nicaragua said the former minister, Miguel D’Escoto Brockmann, 78, an outspoken critic of the United States and a Catholic priest, would replace the Libyan diplomat Ali Abdussalam Treki, who had been unable to obtain a visa to enter the United States. Libya’s ambassador to the United Nations, Abdurrahman Mohamed Shalgam, defected in late February after denouncing Col. Muammar...

UNITED NATIONS (AFP) — UN General Assembly president Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann, a harsh critic of US foreign policy under president George W. Bush, accused Washington on Tuesday of demonizing Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. "I don't think anyone can doubt that in our part of the world, Ahmadinejad has been demonized," the former Nicaraguan foreign minister said as he briefed reporters on his recent foreign tour, including a stop in Iran where he attended a regional economic summit. "The United States has been in the business of the demonization of people for ever and the canonization of the worst of dictators,"...