By Bond Robertson 
Family of the President: Vice President of Nicaragua Rosario Murillo (left) is married to President Daniel Ortega (right). Together, they have a daughter Camila Antonia Ortega Murillo, who was placed on the US sanctions list on Wednesday. Photo: INTI OCON / AFP
President Daniel Ortega, 75, has tightened his grip on power. Within a few days, Nicaragua had arrested one unit after another.
A total of five potential presidential candidates have been arrested in the Central American country, he writes The New York Times.
“We are witnessing something unparalleled in recent Latin American history: a return to Cold War-style dictatorships,” Mateo Garquin, an expert on Nicaragua at California’s University of Champagne, told the newspaper.
She drew attention when Nicaraguan opposition leader Cristina Chamorro, 67, was arrested and charged with money laundering on Wednesday last week. She is a journalist, and was expected to run as the main challenger to President Ortega in the November 7 presidential election. Chamorro’s mother, Violetta Barrios de Chamorro, defeated Ortega in the 1990 presidential election.
arrest according to guardian It is seen as an attempt to prevent her from coming to power.
“This reflects Ortega’s concerns about a free and fair election,” US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken wrote on Twitter after the arrest.
Arrest: Opposition leader Christiana Chamorro during a press conference on May 31. A few days later, the police arrested her. Photo: INTI OCON / AFP
Former diplomat Arturo Cruz was also arrested last week, while academic, activist Felix Maradiaga and economist Juan Sebastian Chamorro were arrested on Tuesday of this week. The fighting continued on Wednesday, when activist Jose Ballet was arrested.
“These events demonstrate that the path to elections will be marked by repressive actions that will make it impossible for people to exercise their political right without fear of reprisals,” said Erica Guevara-Rosas, Chief of Staff to the United States. Amnesty International on Wednesday.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has called on Nicaragua to release all political leaders, Al Jazeera writes.
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Sanctions on the president’s daughter
The United States also reacts strongly to what is happening in the country.
On Wednesday, they imposed sanctions on four of the president’s supporters, including his daughter Camila Antonia Ortega Murillo, NTB wrote. Her mother is Ortega’s wife – and Vice President of State – Rosario Murillo.
Ortega’s daughter has been a close advisor to her parents for several years, and she leads the TV channel Canal 13. According to the United States, she spreads propaganda about the regime. President Ortega is also accused of promoting his own media channels and getting rid of competitors.
President Daniel Ortega poses with two police officers in 2018, several weeks after demonstrations were suppressed by the authorities. Photo: Cristobal Venegas / AP
The United States also placed Nicaraguan Central Bank Governor Leonardo Ovidio Reyes Ramirez, Deputy National Assembly leader Edwin Ramon Castro Rivera, and General Julio Modesto Rodriguez Baladares on the sanctions list.
After the authorities cracked down on several demonstrations in 2018, the United States put more and more people on its alleged blacklist, and Vice President Murillo and several children of the presidential couple were already on this list. to me The New York Times The sanctions had no effect on the regime’s policy.
Getting involved in regime repression is costly. State Department spokesman Ned Price said on Wednesday that the United States will continue to use diplomatic and economic tools against members of the regime who are part of this wave of repression. According to Reuters.
Andrea Jackie, who heads the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Sanctions, says the president’s actions “are pushing the country further into authoritarianism.”
Responds aggressively to sanctions
Vice President of Nicaragua Murillo responds forcefully to US sanctions.
– It’s illegal, random, coercive and one-sided, she says Washington Post.
The newspaper wrote that, according to it, the arrested opposition politicians are “traitors” who want to stage a coup.
Daniel Ortega has been president since 2007, but he has ruled the country before. In 1979, he led a group of rebels who seized power in the country, and was president until 1990, when Violetta Barrios de Chamorro won the presidential election.
In recent years, the president has been accused of running an authoritarian government and suppressing demonstrations.