2023-08-23 01:31:53
Managua: The United States imposed visa restrictions on 100 officials of the Nicaraguan government, which suppresses democracy and prohibits religious freedom. The US State Department’s action comes after the Daniel Ortega administration froze the bank accounts and assets of the Central American University (DEA), which is run by the Society of Jesus.
Secretary of State Anthony Blinken wrote on his social media accounts that steps have been taken to impose visa restrictions on 100 Nicaraguan officials who are restricting the human rights of Nicaraguan citizens and undermining democracy. Apart from this, the Treasury Department has also frozen the US assets of its defense minister and other officials in the military, telecom and mining sectors.
“We call on the government to immediately and unconditionally release all those unjustly detained, including Bishop Alvarez of Matagalpa,” added Blinken.
Bishop Rolando Alvarez, a critic of the Nicaraguan government, was jailed by the Ortega regime on charges of aiding anti-government protesters.
In February, he was sentenced to 26 years in prison after refusing to board a plane to be deported to the United States. The US State Department said he was one of the bravest figures who supported free civil society.
The note concludes by saying that we are committed to promoting the fundamental freedoms of the Nicaraguan people and their human rights.
Ortega has jailed several opposition leaders as he seeks to win a fourth consecutive term in the 2021 elections. Dozens of non-governmental organizations were stripped of their legal existence. The latest is the confiscation of a Jesuit-run university by the Nicaraguan government, accusing it of being a ‘hotbed of terrorism’.
Bank accounts and assets of the Central American University, run by the Society of Jesus, were frozen by the authoritarian regime of President Daniel Ortega and his wife and vice president, Rosario Murillo.
Visa restrictions were previously imposed on 116 individuals linked to the Ortega administration, including mayors, prosecutors, university administrators, police, prison and military officials.
Earlier this month, the government barred two priests from re-entering the country after attending World Youth Day in Lisbon, Portugal. The government has also reportedly expelled dozens of nuns from the country in the past 18 months.
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