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The US Secretary of State, Mike pompeo, he urged the president of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega, to change course, respect human rights and fundamental freedoms, and allow free and fair elections in November 2021.
Pompeo made this appeal to Ortega in a statement in which he criticized the new law that will disqualify candidates for popularly elected positions in Nicaragua whom the authorities consider “traitors to the homeland.”
“The new authoritarian law of the Ort regimeega undermines democracy, ”said the US Foreign Minister, who warned that Washington will not tolerate threats to Nicaragua’s democracy.
“The United States will not tolerate these threats to Nicaraguan democracy, nor will it tolerate the oppression of the Nicaraguan people,” Pompeo said.
“Authoritarian regime”
Pompeo stressed that the Western Hemisphere is now “a hemisphere of freedom, with the exception of a few small-scale authoritarian regimes that remain, such as Nicaragua.
“This week, the Ortega regime further isolated itself in the region by passing a law that could effectively prohibit Nicaraguans who are running for democracy from running for office in next year’s elections,” he said.
Its application, he added, will further undermine Nicaragua’s democratic institutions and processes, as it would prohibit opposition figures from running for popularly elected positions, “threatening to turn the 2021 elections into an” election “in name only. ”.
The Sandinista majority that controls the National Assembly (Parliament) approved on Monday urgently a law that will inhibit the candidacies of those Nicaraguans who, among others, applaud the imposition of sanctions against the State and its citizens, who will also be considered “traitors to the homeland.”
The “Law for the defense of the rights of the people to independence, sovereignty and self-determination for peace” was approved in an extraordinary session with 70 votes from the Sandinistas and their allies, promoters of the controversial initiative, compared to 14 who voted in against and 5 abstentions.
Warns “new consequences”
“These actions follow the approval by the National Assembly of a Foreign Agents Law that sabotages the ability of Nicaraguans to seek democratic change, and a Cybercrime Law that systematically suppresses freedom of expression,” Pompeo continued.
He observed that the US has taken measures against the Nicaraguan government, including sanctioning the members of the Ortega family “and the corrupt inner circle, to encourage the Ortega regime to adopt democratic reforms before the presidential elections of the country scheduled for September 7. November 2021 “.
He stressed that his European partners and those of the Organization of American States (OAS) have also spoken out “vigorously against the repression of the Ortega regime,” and that the EU has imposed its own sanctions.
“For the good of the Nicaraguan people, we urge Ortega once again to change course, respect human rights and fundamental freedoms, and allow free and fair elections,” he advocated.
“Otherwise, the United States will not hesitate to impose new consequences,” he warned.
Ortega, who returned to power in January 2007 after coordinating a Government Junta from 1979 to 1985 and presiding over the country from 1985 to 1990, said last Friday that those Nicaraguans who participated in the revolt against their Government in April 2018, that the Executive classifies it as an “attempted coup”, they will not be able to run for popularly elected positions in the next elections.
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