The president of the United States, Joe Biden, has imposed more severe sanctions against the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo than those approved by his predecessor, Donald Trump, says the journalist Andrés Oppenheimer in an article published by the newspaper El Nuevo Herald. The columnist anticipates that if there are no changes in Ortega’s position, the sanctions “will become more acute”.
Last Monday, November 15, the Biden Administration imposed sanctions against nine operators of the regime and the Public Ministry, as an institution. A day later, on Tuesday 16, the US government suspended and restricted the entry of Ortega, Murillo and any official of their regime to US territory, including spouses, sons and daughters.
The United Kingdom and Canada also imposed sanctions on the same Monday, November 15. The British Government sanctioned eight senior officials, including Vice President Murillo. In the Canadian case, eleven Ortega officials were sanctioned, of which nine were already on the US list and one on the British.
“The sanctions against Ortega are a well-thought-out measure, because they do not affect the Nicaraguan people, but only members and collaborators of the dictatorship. And it is the first time that Washington has taken important measures against Ortega. in coordination with other countries, such as Great Britain and Canada“Says Oppenheimer, who also directs and hosts a show on the US network CNN.
The Argentine journalist explains that the measures approved on November 16 prevent the Ortega Murillos and members of the security forces, judges, mayors and private sector allies and their families from traveling to the US This decision exceeds the specific restrictions that Trump had already made against more than a dozen political operators of the regime.
Faced with the sanctions, the director for the Americas of the human rights organization Human Rights Watch, José Miguel Vivanco, opined that “there is no comparison with the recent United States sanctions,” because they are broader, stronger and more forceful, according to the communicator. .
More penalties
Oppenheimer anticipates that the US government could announce more sanctions against the Ortega regime, officials told him. “The commitment of the Biden Administration to support the return to democracy in Nicaragua is very deep,” they would have told him.
However, while these measures are important and forceful, it is waiting for other countries to adopt similar sanctions. “Nicaraguan opposition sources tell me that Biden’s latest measures are important, but would be even more devastating for Ortega if other countries emulated them,” the journalist writes.
As he learned, the Government of Spain could join together with the rest of the European countries with similar sanctions. However, it is a slow bureaucratic process, which has already begun.
The Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, urged his counterparts from the European Union (EU) last Monday to “initiate the procedure” to impose new sanctions on those responsible in Nicaragua of the last presidential elections, which the community bloc considered a fraud due to the lack of participation of opponents.
“Unfortunately, what is more doubtful is that many Latin American countries adopt sanctions against the Ortega regime. The Organization of American States approved on November 12 a condemnation of the Nicaraguan elections. But although the vote was supported by 25 countries, with seven abstentions and one vote – Nicaragua – against, the resolution did not include sanctions, “says the columnist.
The president of Mexico, for example, is reluctant to comment on Ortega, according to what this country does not have an opinion on the internal affairs of other nations; but on the other hand, it tends to interfere “in the internal affairs of center and center-right democracies.”
However, Oppenheimer believes that “it is time to applaud Biden’s sanctions, and to ask that European and Latin American democracies announce similar sanctions. Because if Ortega has his way, other presidents of other countries will follow in his footsteps. “
