The United States will impose visa restrictions on 93 more Nicaraguan individuals who are mostly judges, prosecutors, National Assembly members and Interior Ministry officials.
The restrictions followed President Joe Biden’s public dismissal of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega's reelection in November 2021 as illegitimate and the Nicaraguan government's blatant undermining of democracy, according to a June 13 State Department news release.
"We remain committed to applying a range of diplomatic and economic tools to support the restoration of democracy and respect for human rights in Nicaragua," U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in the release.
The regime has stripped more than 400 non-government organizations and multiple universities of their legal status through the enforcement of repressive new laws, the release said.
“The regime holds over 180 political prisoners, with many suffering from a lack of adequate food, proper medical care and even sunlight,” Blinken said in the release. “One political prisoner has died, and others remain in solitary confinement.”
Nicaragua's recent actions resulted in the refusal by the U.S. to invite Ortega to the recent Summit of the Americas which was held in Los Angeles, Reuters reported.
Ortega is a former Marxist guerrilla who reportedly won his fourth consecutive term in November by jailing his rivals and interfering with the country's media, according to the Reuters article. Juan Sebastian Chamorro and Felix Maradiaga were taken into custody before Nicaragua's 2021 election to block them from running for office. Both are still reportedly being held under inhumane conditions and have been cut off from their families since their initial arrest.
