The United States Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, affirmed that the Joe Biden government will continue to impose sanctions against the Ortega and Murillo dictatorship to hold it accountable for the “generalized abuses and violations of human rights” in Nicaragua.
Blinken assures that the North American country “will exert pressure together with other partners on the continent to achieve a return to democracy and respect for human rights in Nicaragua.” The highest representative of US diplomacy participated in an event to thank the diplomatic personnel who collaborated in receiving the 222 Nicaraguan political prisoners exiled by the dictatorship.
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Likewise, the diplomat stated that the United States “will use all economic tools to try to promote accountability for the widespread abuses committed by the regime” of Managua.
During his speech, he also highlighted that the people released were arrested for “exercising their fundamental rights, something that unfortunately is a crime in Ortega’s Nicaragua,” the official considers.
“These doctors, these political leaders, journalists, priests who met and found themselves together on that plane, had one thing that united them, one overriding aspiration, and it was simply to exercise their fundamental freedoms and try to safeguard the freedom of their fellow citizens.” Blinken added.
The 222 exiled citizens were sent to the United States where the authorities granted them a humanitarian permit to remain in the country for two years. Some have accepted offers to receive Spanish, Colombian, Mexican or Chilean nationality.
Until now, more than 30 people are still imprisoned by the dictatorship. Bishop Rolando José Álvarez, who was under house arrest, refused to leave the country, so the government transferred him to a jail and hours later he was sentenced to 26 years in prison.
This March 29, the United States announced that the Nicaraguan Police is on the List of Entities of the Department of Commerce and prohibits US companies from selling US technology without a permit that is difficult to obtain. Entities from Burma, Russia and China were also included in the list, these last two countries are allies of the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo.
