Colombia slams Nicaragua's Ortega over expulsion of critics

FILE PHOTO: Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega delivers a speech during an extraordinary session of the National Assembly of People's Power of Cuba in commemoration of the 18th anniversary of the creation of ALBA-TCP at the Convention Palace in Havana, Cuba, December 14, 2022. Yamil Lage/Pool via REUTERS

BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombia's leftist government on Thursday blasted Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega's expulsion of hundreds of prominent critics earlier this month and called for international monitoring and a criminal inquiry, according to a statement by the Colombian foreign ministry.

The criticism by the government of Colombian President Gustavo Petro is the latest from the region's mostly leftist governments, after Chile slammed the ejection of more than 200 political prisoners to the United States that Ortega has called criminal mercenaries.