The United States announced this Saturday the restriction of visas to 100 Nicaraguan government officials who, it said, participated in acts of repression and closure of civic spaces, such as the recent closure and confiscation of the Jesuit Central American University (UCA).
The announcement was made by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who denounced “the regime’s incessant attacks” by President Daniel Ortega and Vice President Rosario Murillo against “civil liberties” in the Central American country.
The 100 sanctioned are Nicaraguan officials who “participated in efforts to suppress civil society organizations, close civic spaces such as the Central American University, and unjustly detain courageous people who support a free civil society, including Bishop Rolando Álvarez. ”the statement said.
The measure was adopted pursuant to Presidential Proclamation 10309, which suspends the entry into the United States, as immigrants and non-immigrants, of “persons responsible for policies or actions that threaten democracy in Nicaragua,” he added.
Monsignor Rolando Álvarez, Catholic bishop of Matagalpa (north), was arrested a year ago by the police and has been imprisoned in a Managua prison since last February, after receiving a sentence of 26 years and four months in prison for refusing to be deported to United States together with 222 opponents released and exiled.
Blinken assured that Washington will continue working with the international community “to promote the accountability of those who threaten democracy in Nicaragua,” and in favor of “the fundamental freedoms of the Nicaraguan people and respect for their human rights.”
“We continue to call for the immediate and unconditional release of Bishop Álvarez in Nicaragua and for the end of the systematic repression,” Brian Nichols, Under Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, declared on his X account, formerly Twitter. .
The UCA, the most important private university in Nicaragua, was confiscated this week by the Ortega government after 63 years of operation, through a judicial resolution in which it was accused of being “a center of terrorism.”
