The United States on Tuesday imposed an entry ban on Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, his vice-president wife and his government, after elections that were internationally dismissed as illegitimate.
Before the
November 7 vote, Nicaraguan authorities detained nearly 40 opposition figures,
including seven would-be presidential challengers, assuring victory for
long-time ruler Ortega and his wife Rosario Murillo.
"The
repressive and abusive acts of the Ortega government and those who support it
compel the United States to act," President Joe Biden said in a
proclamation.
"The
Ortega government's undemocratic, authoritarian actions have crippled the
electoral process and stripped away the right of Nicaraguan citizens to choose
their leaders in free and fair elections."
On Monday,
the United States announced separate financial sanctions against Nicaraguan
officials, describing the recent election as a "sham."
Britain
and Canada also announced new sanctions against prominent Nicaraguans.
"The
physical and psychological abuse of political prisoners at the hands of police
and prison authorities is intolerable and cannot stand," Biden said,
accusing Ortega of overseeing corrupt courts, police and security services.
A
firebrand Marxist in his youth, Ortega ruled Nicaragua from 1979 to 1990, after
leading a guerrilla army that ousted US-backed dictator Anastasio Somoza.
Returning to power in 2007, he has won re-election four times, becoming increasingly dictatorial and quashing presidential term limits.
Nicaragua's
congress on Tuesday asked Ortega, 76, to withdraw the Central American country
from a regional cooperation body that rejected the election -- in which Ortega
garnered 75 percent of the vote.
The
Nicaraguan opposition said the election was marked by mass abstention even as
the government claimed turnout of 65 percent.
Last week,
the Washington-based Organization of American States (OAS) said the election
"was not free, just or transparent and had no democratic legitimacy."
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