European Parliament Warns of Imminent Sanctions Against Nicaragua
The President of the European Parliament (EP) warns of imminent sanctions against the Government of Nicaragua, if the situation that “goes astray” does not change.
“The sanctions against the dictatorship in Nicaragua will soon arrive,” the president of the Euro-chamber, Antonio Tajani, announced Saturday from Madrid (capital of Spain), where he participated in the National Convention of the Popular Party (PP).
In this regard, he argued that Nicaragua, under the government of Daniel Ortega, “is on the wrong track”, that is why the European Union (EU) “is not going to be silent and will react”.
On Friday, Tajani had already pronounced on the matter through a tweet, in which he assured that “there will be consequences very soon”, if the Ortega government “does not respect the principles of the rule of law, democracy and human rights.” Thursday, a senior European official, quoted by the French news agency AFP, said that the European Union (EU) is willing to “use all means” within its reach to achieve a solution to the crisis in Nicaragua. “This could include restrictive measures [sanctions] at some point in the future, but we are not there yet,” said the official, who requested anonymity.
Since April 2018, Nicaragua is experiencing a sociopolitical crisis that sparked protests against the Ortega Administration, due to reforms to the social security law. However, even though that presidential decree was repealed, the protests continued.
Managua says that the protests against him, which resulted in hundreds of deaths, are aimed at provoking a coup d’état and accuses the United States of being behind the demonstrations and feeding the coup plotters.
In recent months, the USA has sanctioned several high officials of Nicaragua for alleged “human rights abuses and corruption.” In addition, the US president, Donald Trump, signed last December the law known as “Nica Act”, whose main objective is to block loans from international financial institutions to Nicaragua.
However, Nicaragua says it will move forward despite US interventionist attempts. and recover the economy with the help of small and medium entrepreneurs.
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Translated by JRE/AR
