MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexico will send COVID-19 vaccines to Nicaragua in September, Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said on Tuesday, in a rare sign of international engagement with the administration of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega.

Ebrard, who was speaking at a regular news conference, said the vaccines were part of Mexico’s vaccine distribution efforts that include Honduras, Bolivia, Jamaica, Paraguay, and Belize.

He did not give details of how many vaccines would be sent to the increasingly isolated Central American country.

Ortega, who is seeking a fourth consecutive term in presidential elections in November, has come under fire from the United States and other western powers for his administration’s crackdown on opposition figures and critical media.

Mexico recalled its ambassador to Nicaragua in June citing concerns over the Ortega government’s treatment of political opposition. Argentina, Colombia and Costa Rica have undertaken similar steps, prompting a tit-for-tat response by Nicaragua here.

The vaccines are part of a deal with Argentina to produce doses for Latin America and the Caribbean.

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