Through a letter addressed to the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States, the senators Bill Cassidy Y blond frame They called on the Joe Biden government to continue pressuring the Daniel Ortega regime through specific sanctions and economic tools that further isolate the Nicaraguan regime.
“We write to encourage the administration to expand its response to the deterioration of democracy in Nicaragua under the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo due to its increasing violation of human rights and brutal treatment of political dissidents and candidates,” the diplomats said. .
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In the letter, they request that the US Departments of State and Treasury use the authority granted by Congress through the Nicaraguan Human Rights and Anti-Corruption Law (Ley Nica Act) of 2018 and the Law to Reinforce Nicaragua’s adherence to the Conditions for the Electoral Reform (Renacer Law) of 2021 to sanction the Ortega-Murillo regime diplomatically and economically.
Both Cassidy and Rubio recalled that in April 2018 the Ortega regime attacked Nicaraguans who peacefully took to the streets to protest the lack of democracy and the rule of law.
“Since then, this autocratic duo has responded with a systematic and violent repression that has killed, injured or exiled hundreds of Nicaraguans. The Ortega-Murillo regime extends control over most, if not all, the levers of power and as such imprisons political opponents with impunity at the national, regional and international levels.
condemn detention of Juan Sebastian Chamorro and Felix Maradiaga
The demand for the United States to pressure Ortega comes when opponents and former presidential candidates Juan Sebastián Chamorro and Félix Maradiaga have been in prison for a year.
“In June 2021, the Nicaraguan regime arrested all opposition leaders who declared their intention to oppose Daniel Ortega in the presidential elections, including Juan Sebastián Chamorro and Félix Maradiaga. His relatives, who live here in the United States, have had little communication with them while they are in prison in the infamous Chipote.
They ask for actions against Ortega’s former daughter-in-law
According to the letter sent to the government of President Biden, the senators indicate that the restrictive measures of visas to more than 150 people “who have helped the regime in its assault on democracy”, be included Yadira Leets, former daughter-in-law of dictator Daniel Ortega, who visited the United States in May.
“Further visa restrictions should be implemented on others in President Ortega’s network to prevent them from traveling to the United States,” the US diplomats demand.
They stressed that the Treasury Department has already sanctioned 31 people and eight Nicaraguan entities, including Rosario Murillo, the children of the presidential couple, advisers close to Daniel Ortega and leaders of the Nicaraguan National Police, the National Assembly and the Judiciary. .
“It is time to extend these economic sanctions to Ortega himself and to the judicial officials responsible for the arrest of the gentlemen. Chamorro and Maradiaga to include Judge Félix Ernesto Salmerón Moreno, Deputy Prosecutor Heydi Estela Ramírez, Attorney General Ana Julia Guido Ochoa, and the pension fund of the Nicaraguan Military Social Welfare Institute, which is also an accomplice in the arrest and torture of political dissidents,” they demanded.
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The diplomats concluded that the regime’s record of undermining democratic structures and norms within its homeland is incompatible with the principles of the Organization of American States and the United Nations.
“Nicaragua’s membership in the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR FTA) must be reconsidered so that Ortega, Murillo and their network cannot reap the trade benefits with the United States and the other member states. We urge the administration to enforce all diplomatic tools to deny the Ortega regime access to the US market,” they demanded.
