Negotiations aimed at resolving a months-long crisis in Nicaragua stalled Sunday when the opposition called on President Daniel Ortega's government to release all political prisoners before any new talks. The opposition Civic Alliance for Justice and Democracy said it would “return to the negotiating table only when the government of Nicaragua provides the country with convincing signs they want to find solutions to the crisis,” which began in April 2018.
Nicaragua's Congress on Tuesday accepted a US$ 100 million loan offered by Taiwan, giving a line of support to President Daniel Ortega's government, which has become increasingly isolated after a brutal crackdown on protesters last year.
A total 340 people have been reported Tuesday to be incarcerated in Nicaragua for their involvement in anti-givernment actions, according to the National Prison System, as the administration of President Daniel Ortega has been going through a socio-political crisis since April that has left hundreds dead and thousands either under arrest or injured. Human rights NGOs estimate the number of detainees to be almost twice as many.
Brazil's Presdient-elect Jair Bolsonaro will not welcome any Nicaraguan delegation at the inauguration ceremony in Brasilia on January 1, his future Foreign Minister Ernesto Araújo announced on Twitter.
In a local replica of the #MeToo movement, actress/model Thelma Fardin last week announced with the backing of radical feminist groups that she had been abused by actor Juan Darthes while on tour in Nicaragua. At the time of the alleged abuse in 2009, Fardin was 16 and therefore a minor. Darthes has already been “buried alive” and any show or commercial ad with his face has been removed from national TV.
Latin American leftwing governments which strongly oppose Washington's policies for the region gathered in Havanna at the XVI Summit of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples and the Treaty of Commerce of the Peoples (ALBA - TCP) to renew their regional commitment.
Nicaragua's Parliament Thursday stripped five Non Government Organisations from their legal status on the grounds that a report from the Ministry of the Interior said they were part of a group behind the failed coup attempt against President Daniel Ortega, to bring the total number of NGOs to have received the same treatment over the past two weeks to nine.
United States president Donald Trump on Tuesday sanctioned the wife of Nicaraguan president Daniel Ortega and one of his aides under a new executive order allowing Washington to target Nicaraguan officials for a crackdown on anti-government protests.
United States imposed new sanctions Thursday on Venezuela and Cuba and promised additional penalties against Nicaragua as the Trump administration laid out a hard-line policy toward countries the White House branded a troika of tyranny.
United States declared Nicaragua’s civil unrest a threat to the region’s security, saying government repression of protests risked creating an overwhelming displacement of people akin to Venezuela or Syria. More than 300 people have been killed and 2,000 injured in crackdowns by Nicaraguan police and armed groups in protests that began in April over an abortive plan by leftist President Daniel Ortega’s government to reduce welfare benefits.