U.S and the European Union (EU) increased pressure on Nicaragua with economic sanctions and travel bans on the day on which Daniel Ortega began his fourth term as president. Two children of Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, who work as presidential advisers –Camila Ortega Murillo and Laureano Ortega Murillo– are among the six people sanctioned by the EU for “serious human rights violations, including the repression of the civil society, supporting fraudulent presidential and parliamentary elections and for undermining democracy and the rule of law ”.
In Washington, the US Treasury announced sanctions against six senior Nicaraguan officials, including Defense Minister Rosa Adelina Barahona, in response to the “farce” of the November elections in which Ortega was reelected. At the same time, the State Department imposed visa restrictions on 116 people linked to the Nicaraguan government, including mayors, prosecutors, security officials and university academics, whom it does not name.
The 116 people sanctioned are “complicit in undermining democracy in Nicaragua,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement. The Treasury sanctions were adopted because “the Ortega-Murillo regime continues to subdue democracy through false elections, silencing the peaceful opposition and detaining hundreds of people as political prisoners,” says Brian Nelson, undersecretary for terrorism and intelligence. financial
The Nicaraguan Army not only refused to order the disarmament and dismantling of the paramilitary or ‘para-police’ forces (…), but the military also provided weapons
In addition to Minister Barahona, General Jesús Pulido Ortiz and Bayardo Ramón Rodríguez Ruiz were also targeted for sanctions for having “repressed the political opposition and public demonstrations, resulting in more than 300 deaths, 2,000 injuries and the imprisonment of hundreds of political figures and civil society ”, states the Treasury statement.
“The Nicaraguan Army not only refused to order the disarmament and dismantling of the paramilitary or ‘para-police’ forces during and after the political uprisings, but the military also provided weapons to the ‘para-policemen’ who committed acts of violence against the Nicaraguans, ”he adds.
The Treasury also sanctions officials of the telecommunications regulator who allegedly ran a troll farm on social networks, eliminated by Meta (formerly known as Facebook) “to influence public opinion in favor of the regime and disseminate negative information about the opposition”.
In November, the president of the United States, Joe Biden, called the elections a “farce” and affirmed that the elections “were neither free nor fair, and certainly not democratic.” After the elections, the United States imposed visa restrictions on Ortega and Murillo, while the European Union did the same with Murillo and one of Ortega’s sons.
Before the November elections, Nicaraguan authorities detained nearly 40 opponents, including seven aspiring presidential candidates, guaranteeing victory for the 76-year-old Ortega.
The State Department claims that the government is holding 170 political prisoners in jails. “We apply these economic sanctions and visa restrictions to promote accountability for the escalation of authoritarianism and abuses by the Ortega-Murillo regime,” says Blinken.
The president of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel, was the first head of state to arrive in Managua for the inauguration ceremony, scheduled for the end of the afternoon.
The ceremony was attended by several foreign ministers, including those of Bolivia, Mexico, Palestine and the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic. Chinese President Xi Jinping appointed Cao Jianming, vice president of the Standing Committee of the Asian giant’s National People’s Congress, as a special envoy.
Delegates from Russia, Iran, North Korea, Syria, Cuba, Venezuela, Honduras, Belize, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Angola, Turkey, Belarus, Egypt, Malaysia and Yemen attended.
AFP
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