US announces new sanctions against Ortega regime in Nicaragua after arrests of opposition leaders

The United States government announced new sanctions against the Daniel ortega in Nicaragua after the Sandinista president continue his advance against the opposition and arrest four leaders who could compete with him in the November elections.

Punitive measures reach “”four people who support the Ortega regime, a regime that has undermined democracy, violated the human rights of the civilian population, enacted repressive laws with serious economic consequences and tried to silence the independent media“, the Treasury Department said in a statement.

“President Ortega’s actions are harming Nicaraguans and leading the country to greater tyranny (…) the United States will continue to expose officials who continue to ignore the will of their citizens“, Warned Andrea Gacki, director of the Bureau of Foreign Assets Control of the Treasury Department.

Individuals on the U.S. Department of the Treasury Sanction List are Camila Antonia Ortega Murillo, daughter of Ortega and coordinator of the Creative Economy Commission; Leonardo Ovidio Reyes Ramírez, President of the Central Bank; Edwin Ramón Castro Rivera, Member of the National Assembly; and Julio Modesto Rodríguez Balladares, Brigadier General.

The measures freeze all assets of designated officials and freeze outside the US financial system.

State Department spokesman Ned Price reiterated that the Biden administration asked Ortega to “”immediately release the presidential candidates, as well as other civil society and opposition leaders who were arrested last week. “

The first inmate was Cristiana Chamorro, cousin of Juan Sebastián, daughter of former President Barrios de Chamorro and opposition figure most likely to win the presidential elections next November.

Police entered his home on Wednesday June 2 with a search and arrest warrant issued by a local judge. After five hours of raid, at 5.15 p.m. (Managua time) Cristiana has been placed under house arrest, as revealed by his brother Carlos Fernando Chamorro.

The Nicaraguan public prosecutor accused her of abusive management offenses, ideological lie, both in real competition with money, property and asset laundering.

The prosecution of the Sandinista regime also asked the disqualification of Chamorro Barrios from the civil service, “Not to be in full enjoyment of their civil and political rights because they are in criminal proceedings.”

After her he was arrested too Arturo Cruz, Ambassador to the United States of the Ortega government between 2007 and 2009. He was arrested at the Augusto C. Sandino International Airport in Managua on Saturday while returning from a tour of the United States, his press team reported.

Cruz, a presidential candidate from the Citizen Alliance opposition, arrived in Managua at 9:00 a.m. local time (3:00 p.m. GMT), but three hours later he was still inside the airport and not answering calls or messages on his cell phone.

While several hours passed on Saturday without knowing the whereabouts of the candidate and also a former ambassador, the Nicaraguan public prosecutor confirmed his detention: “He was detained … and is under investigation for strong indications that he attacked Nicaraguan society and the rights of the people”.

The third arrested was the leader of the opposition and presidential candidate Félix Maradiaga Blandon. In a statement, the national police said that he was charged with a series of crimes such as “destabilization”, “propose economic blockades”, “applaud the imposition of sanctions against Nicaragua” and “undermine the supreme interests of the nation”.

Maradiaga, academic and activist, was arrested after appearing before the prosecution, where they confirmed having opened an investigation for “incite foreign interference in internal affairs“So, he told reporters, he was ready for whatever was to come.

Tuesday, Nicaraguan National Police said they also detained the economist José Adán Aguerri Chamorro, former president of the Superior Council of Private Enterprise (Cosep), Nicaragua’s main employer, and opposition leader Violeta granera.

The business leader and the opposition activist were arrested for “”incite foreign interference in internal affairs“O”request military interventions“Against the regime chaired by Sandinista Daniel Ortega,” the National Police said in a statement.

Police assured that Granera, who aspired to the vice-presidency of Nicaragua in the 2016 elections and belongs to the Political Council of the opposition Blue and White National Unity, “stay at home in custody”.

While the former boss of Cosep He was transferred to the preventive prisons of the National Directorate of Legal Aid, in Managua.

“Both are under investigation for committing acts that undermine independence, sovereignty and self-determination., incite foreign interference in internal affairs, demand military interventions, organize with funding from foreign powers to commit acts of terrorism and destabilization, ”declared the national police.

Following the arrests of opposition candidates, the United States government said on Tuesday that theThe arrests confirm that Ortega is a “dictator”, and called on the international community to “treat it as such”.

With information from EFE and AFP

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