The United States authorities have announced that the country has decided to impose restrictions on several Nicaraguan officials for their role in supporting the regime of President Daniel Ortega.
As the US State Department revealed, the restrictions were imposed on Saturday, and they will apply to more than 100 officials from Nicaragua, VisaGuide.World reports.
Writing on his official social media account on the matter, the Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the officials against which the restrictions will apply have been involved in restricting human rights as well as undermining democracy in Nicaragua.
Blinker further stressed that the US calls on the regime to release as soon as possible Bishop Álvarez and all the others who have been unfairly detained.
“The State Department has taken steps to impose visa restrictions on 100 Nicaraguan officials who restrict Nicaraguans’ human rights and undermine democracy. We call on the regime to unconditionally and immediately release Bishop Álvarez and all those unjustly detained,” the statement of Blinken on his official Twitter account reads.
As the Associated Press explains, Bishop Rolando Álvarez, who is an outspoken critic of the government of Nicaragua, was detained by the regime of Ortega for supposedly helping anti-government protesters.
Bishop Álvarez was sentenced to 26 years in prison earlier this year after he refused to board a plane that was carrying exiles to the US.
In addition to the above-mentioned, the Associated Press further explains that Ortega also jailed dozens of figures from the opposition in order to win a fourth term in the 2021 elections. Ortega also outlawed several nongovernmental organizations.
This is not the first time that the US has imposed restrictions on Nicaraguan officials. The State Department previously pulled visas for the top officials of Nicaragua as well as for judges who convicted the opposition leaders and legislators who cooperated in banning civic groups and different NGOs.
The State Department previously imposed visa restrictions on a total of 116 individuals who were linked to the Ortega regime. Part of the group of people against which visa restrictions were imposed were university administrators, mayors, police officials, prosecutors, prison officials, and military officials, among others.
Additionally, the Treasury Department has also frozen the US assets of the minister of defence and other officials in the army, mining, and telecom sectors. Since many Nicaraguan officials are already under strict sanctions, the citizens of the EU were prohibited from having dealings with them.