(10 Jan 2022) The U.S. Treasury Department slapped sanctions on more Nicaraguan officials Monday, the day President Daniel Ortega is to be sworn in following elections that drew condemnation internationally.
90 legislators of Nicaragua's new congress were sworn in on Sunday, 75 of them belong to Ortega's Sandinista party. The other 15 are from tiny parties considered by critics to be collaborators with the regime.
Adolfo Pastran, a legislator for the Sandinista party, said the new government would "continue defending our sovereignty, the peace, the tranquility, the right that Nicaraguans have to live peacefully."
Ortega was elected to a fourth consecutive term in Nov. 7 elections which were broadly criticized as a farce after seven likely challengers to Ortega were arrested and jailed in the months prior to the vote.
Cristián Tinoco, daughter of Víctor Hugo Tinoco who was arrested prior to the vote, thinks a dialogue with government is not possible now as the absence of opposition leaders meant "it would be a monologue."
"The people who should be engaged in a dialogue with the government are all in jail," she said.
Yet, in the streets of Managua there are those who are still firmly behind Daniel Ortega and his government.
Making a living selling food with his family near a bus stop, 60-year-old Guillermo Rivas thinks Ortega "looks out for the nation, for the families, the most destitute, the neediest."
Others, like 38-year-old housewife María Sequeira, are not optimistic about the future.
"Now that Daniel Ortega is in power it's going to be a disaster because the whole world has imposed sanctions," she said.
The Ortega regime has been hit by rounds of condemnation and sanctions since the election.
The US Treasury Department announced it will freeze the U.S. assets of the defense minister, and five other officials in the army, telecom, and mining sectors.
The US State Department is also imposing visa restrictions on 116 individuals linked to the Ortega regime.
Ortega's defiant stance has placed Latin American governments in the dilemma of deciding whether to send representatives to the inauguration that is expected to be held later Monday.
The list of those expected to attend includes representatives from Cuba, China, North Korea, Iran, Russia, and Syria.
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