US President Joe Biden on Tuesday barred Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, his wife and vice president, Rosario Mourillo, and other government ministers and officials from entering the US indictment for the “blows” they dealt to democracy.
“The repression and abuses of the Ortega government and those who support it are forcing the United States to take action,” said the text, signed by the US president and released after the controversial November 7 presidential election in which the former Sandinista guerrilla leader secured new term of office, absence of the opposition.
“I have decided that it is in the interest of the United States” to “ban the entry” into their territory of “members of the Nicaraguan government led by President Daniel Ortega, including his wife and Vice President Rosario Mourinho” and all those associated with it. with actions that “affect the democratic institutions” of this country, the text continues.
The long list of people named personae non gratae by the head of state includes parliamentarians, their associates, mayors and others accused of “violating human rights by punishing peaceful protesters,” as well as senior security officials and government officials. the prison service, the judiciary, the Nicaraguan Ministry of the Interior.
In addition to government officials, the measure also applies to anyone allegedly contributing to the actions condemned by Washington. It is still directed against spouses and their children.
Yesterday, the US Treasury Department imposed financial sanctions on the Nicaraguan prosecutor’s office and nine officials, reacting to what it called an “imitation” of elections, “orchestrated by President Daniel Ortega and Vice President Rosario Rosou”.
The threat of sanctions was already looming before the November 7 vote, with the opposition unspoken after the head of state’s key potential opponents were jailed. President Biden described as a “pantomime” the process in which Daniel Ortega secured a fourth consecutive term.
In a text released by the White House, Mr. Biden makes vitriolic comments about the situation in the Central American country. “The anti-democratic and authoritarian actions of the Ortega government crippled the electoral process and deprived Nicaraguan citizens of the right to elect their leaders through free and fair elections,” he said.
He denounced the arrest without any guarantee that they would be treated fairly by protesters, opposition figures, journalists, in order to “stifle any political dialogue”.
Police and penitentiaries “contribute to this oppressive environment” with “arrests for political reasons”, he continues. “The physical and psychological abuse of political prisoners, who are often imprisoned ‘secretly’, is ‘intolerable,'” he said, noting the “climate of fear” cultivated by mayors in favor of the Ortega government. While judges and prosecutors appointed and “controlled by the government” have led to the “abuse” of justice to “silence the critics” of Daniel Ortega, “there is a general impunity for perpetrators of crimes against opposition figures” and “opposition” undermines the foundations of democratic institutions, he notes.
Previous sanctions against the government of Daniel Ortega and Nicaraguan officials imposed by Mr Biden and his predecessor, Donald Trump, have had no practical repercussions. Analysts doubt the effectiveness of the new measures.
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