State Department sanctions on Nicaragua, Ortega called for by Cassidy, Senate colleagues

U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) joined a bipartisan group of 14 lawmakers to urge the U.S. State Department to increase pressure on Nicaragua’s Ortega regime and prevent the further erosion of democratic norms and the rule of law in Nicaragua.

“The international community must take urgent actions to stem one of the most severe campaigns of repression in the Western Hemisphere since the military dictatorships of the 1980s,” wrote Sen. Cassidy and his colleagues in a Sept. 30 letter sent to Secretary of State Antony Blinken. “In the months ahead, democratic actors in Nicaragua will require robust support from the United States and international partners as they seek a peaceful return to democracy.”

Since late May, the Ortega regime has jailed five opposition candidates for the upcoming November general elections and two more contenders are under house arrest. Many of them are subject to politically motivated prosecutions, according to their letter.

In addition, the Ortega regime is prohibiting the country’s leading opposition parties from participating in next month’s elections, dissolved the legal registration of dozens of civil society groups in Nicaragua, and banned respected international organizations from operating in the country, they wrote.

“In total, the regime is holding at least 150 political prisoners, denying them due process and regular access to legal counsel and their families,” wrote the senators. “Taken together, these actions amount to an expansive authoritarian assault on Nicaragua’s institutions and civil society.”

Sen. Cassidy and the lawmakers pressed the Biden administration to condemn the upcoming election as illegitimate, consider suspending Nicaragua from the Organization of American States (OAS), and called for a review of Nicaragua’s participation in the Dominican Republic-Central America free trade agreement.

The letter also called for greater, sustained global attention to the situation in Nicaragua, including at the United Nations and the OAS.

“As you evaluate options, we encourage you to expand sanctions to President Daniel Ortega and the ranks of the Nicaraguan military and its investment fund, the Instituto de Previsión Social Militar,” Sen. Cassidy and his colleagues wrote. “Taken together, these steps may push Ortega to permit an opening for democratic change.”

Among the lawmakers who joined Sen. Cassidy in signing the letter were U.S. Sens. Joni Ernst (R-IA) and Bob Menendez (D-NJ).