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In response to acts of repression and irregularities in the recent elections in which President Daniel Ortega was reelected, the United States and the United Kingdom stepped up sanctions against senior Nicaraguan officials. A decision that has been applauded by the country’s opposition, after elections that have been described as “illegitimate.”
This Monday, November 15, different movements of the Nicaraguan opposition celebrated the sanctions imposed by the United States and the United Kingdom against senior Nicaraguan officials. The reprisals come after the elections in the Central American country in which Daniel Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, were reelected.
The opposition Blue and White National Unity spoke through its social networks. “We celebrate the sanctions that reach the Public Ministry, mayors and more corrupt officials of the Ortega dictatorship,” the statement said.
While the civil society organization, Articulation of Social Movements (AMS), wrote on its Twitter account that “far beyond the OAS, the rejection of the #FarsaElectoral spreads throughout the world and its former allies abandon the dictatorship Nicaragua votes for Nicaragua and no one else accompanies her. #QueSeVayan! “.
The news was also well received by the Nicaraguan Exiles in the World (NEEM) movement. “New sanctions against the regime, now against the Public Ministry and nine of his henchmen. April is still alive!”
What are the sanctions imposed by the United States and the United Kingdom?
The United States Department of the Treasury imposed sanctions on the Nicaraguan Public Ministry, as well as nine senior Nicaraguan officials. This, for its role in the “repression of human rights and fundamental freedoms after the farce of presidential elections on November 7”.
Among those sanctioned for being “key partners in Ortega’s anti-democratic policies” are the Minister of Energy and Mines, Salvador Mansell Castrillo; the Superintendent of Banks and Financial Institutions, Luis Angel Montenegro Espinoza; and the Vice Minister of Finance and Public Credit, Adrián Chavarría Montenegro.
The mayors of the cities of Jinotega, Esteli and Matagalpa, and the president of the Nicaraguan Institute of Energy, José Antonio Castañeda Méndez, were also penalized.
At the same time, the Treasury considered that the Office of the Public Ministry was “responsible or complicit in actions or policies aimed at undermining democratic processes or institutions in Nicaragua.”
Therefore, he declared that “the assets that these entities and companies may have under US jurisdiction are frozen and they are prohibited from making financial transactions with US citizens.”
For its part, the Government of the United Kingdom sanctioned eight senior Nicaraguan officials. Among them the vice president and first lady, Rosario Murillo; the president of the National Assembly, Gustavo Porras; the president of the Supreme Court of Justice, Alba Luz Ramos; the Secretary General of the Mayor’s Office of Managua, Fidel Antonio Moreno; Ana Julia Guido Ochoa, Attorney General of Nicaragua; the former vice president and interim president and current magistrate of the Supreme Electoral Council, Lumberto Ignacio Campbell; the Police Commissioner Juan Antonio Valle and the Chief Commissioner of the León Police, Fidel de Jesús Domínguez.
In a statement, the British Foreign Ministry specified that “these measures, which have been coordinated with the United States and Canada, mean that those sanctioned will be prohibited from entering the United Kingdom and their assets in this country will be frozen.”
On the other hand, José Manuel Albares, the Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, urged the European Union to follow in the footsteps of the United States and the United Kingdom.
The minister asked that “the procedure be initiated to apply new individual sanctions and that the EU demand the immediate release of political prisoners, of those people who were imprisoned exclusively so that they could not compete in what was called elections”.
Elections considered “fraudulent” and disqualified by the OAS
Nicaragua’s electoral process was disqualified by the Organization of American States (OAS). Likewise, it has not been recognized by the majority of the international community.
Daniel Ortega won the elections on November 7, in the absence of the opposition. In recent months, seven presidential hopefuls have been arrested for “treason.” In addition, three political parties were dissolved.
It is Ortega’s fifth term and the fourth in a row. The new period will be the second with his wife, Rosario Murillo.
With EFE
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