The United States and Canada Announce Sanctions Against Nicaragua

Today June 21, 2019 the United States and Canada imposed sanctions against Nicaraguan “key regime figures… pursuant to Executive Order 13851, which President Trump signed on November 27, 2018″(1). President Trump initially signed the executive order to address Nicaraguan President “Ortega regime’s systematic dismantling and undermining of democratic institutions and the rule of law, its use of indiscriminate violence and repressive tactics against civilians, as well as its corruption leading to the destabilization of Nicaragua’s economy” (2). The executive order’s corresponding sanctions are in response to the Nicaraguan governments use of “force and violence, repressing democratic” “peaceful protests [which] erupted throughout Nicaragua [on April 18, 2018] by citizens opposing the policies and decisions of President Daniel Ortega’s government” (3). Currently, estimates report “at least 500 people have been killed since April, thousands have been injured in protests, and more than 777 have been detained and held without cause” (3). “Tens of thousands of Nicaraguans have fled the country, with estimates of more than 50,000 Nicaraguans seeking protection in Costa Rica” (3). With the sanctions announced today, the United States and Canada “urge the Ortega regime to restore fundamental freedoms and civil rights in Nicaragua and to heed the calls of Nicaraguans clamoring for early free, fair, and transparent elections,… [and] to unconditionally and fully release all arbitrarily detained persons and protect the human rights of its citizens” (1).

1. https://www.state.gov/united-states-and-canada-announce-financial-sanctions-to-address-the-ongoing-repression-in-nicaragua/
2. https://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/Programs/Documents/nicaragua_eo.pdf
3. https://www.usaid.gov/political-transition-initiatives/nicaragua