Ricardo Zunigadeputy secretary of the US Office of Western Hemisphere Affairs, warned that the sociopolitical crisis that persists in Nicaragua and the police state imposed by Daniel Ortega opens the door for the continuation of sanctions against the main political operators and economics of Ortega.
“The conditions determine the sanctions and at the moment the conditions have worsened. So, we will use the tools that we have to help people affected by the current condition of Nicaragua. We are analyzing all the tools we have, including in the economic field. We are sure that there will be a reaction from the United States,” Zúñiga warned in an interview given to Telemundo television.
This week, Nicaragua intensified its conflict with the international community by announce the withdrawal of all its diplomatic representation from the country before the Organization of American States (OAS) and assault the headquarters of the regional organization in Nicaragua, in an act that violates diplomatic norms that are key to political harmony between nations.
Zúñiga insisted in his speech that the Ortega regime must give in to the calls made by the international community and the Nicaraguan citizenry itself to restore democracy in the country. “They have to let the people of Nicaragua express their democratic character in free and true elections. Release political prisoners who are in jail for expressing their opinion or for opposing within the system by running as presidential candidates. We recognize the democratic spirit of Nicaragua and we will support that spirit with all our capabilities”, he stated.
This Wednesday, April 27, the US Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, Brian A Nicholsreported that the North American country has not sent formal invitations to attend the Summit of the Americas in June, but stressed that “all democracies” in the region will be included, so it is “unlikely” that they will be part of this meeting Nicaragua, Cuba and Venezuela.
Nichols himself had already warned in February 2022 that Nicaragua was working its way to be suspended from the OAS. “They are on their way to being expelled from the Organization of American States with the direction in which they are going,” Nichols responded to legislators from the Subcommittee of the House of Representatives of Congress in a hearing in which the priorities of the States were addressed. United in Latin America.
In his interview, Zúñiga insisted that the United States is precisely in a process of reviewing its policies towards Nicaragua and in the use of tools such as the called Rebirth Law, approved with the support of Democrats and Republicans.
“We have to look at how the panorama has changed in Nicaragua. We have to review our economic policies and our sanctions policies and use the tools that Congress has given us and that both parties have endorsed,” he added.
Political analysts and political scientists have questioned whether the government of the North American president Joe Biden has managed with ineffectiveness and little forcefulness the tools established in the Renacer Law to put pressure on the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo.
