Ortega denounces international ‘campaign of viciousness’ against Nicaragua

President Daniel Ortega alleged Monday that there is “a campaign of viciousness” against Nicaragua and accused the United States and the European countries of interventionism, in response to the international sanctions placed upon his government.

“A campaign of viciousness has been launched against Nicaragua. That campaign intensified with the attempted coup [d’état] in April 2018,” denounced Ortega, alluding to the opposition protests that broke out that year against his government and were repressed with a balance of more than 300 dead, according to humanitarian groups.

The international community “continually speaks that it is necessary to bring democracy to Nicaragua when in their own countries they are incapable of respecting the principles of democracy,” he continued during a speech in the Plaza de la Revolución in Managua.

The president, who has been in power for 13 years, referred to the sanctions of the United States and the European Union against officials of his government for corruption and violation of human rights during the 2018 protests and for the persecution of Nicaraguan opponents.

“European countries easily lend themselves to also being part of the interventionist policy ordered by the Yankees (…) If the Yankee applies a sanction, then they also apply a sanction,” criticized Ortega.

And “who sanctions the Europeans, the Yankees, who sanctions them for the violation of human rights in their countries?”

He also accused the United States of promoting and financing “terrorists who disguise themselves as democratic politicians” in Nicaragua, alluding to the political opposition.

Nicaragua put into effect this Monday a criticized law on foreign agents, approved last Thursday by the parliament with the majority vote of the ruling party, through which the government will control the resources that Nicaraguan people and organizations receive from abroad.

Ortega also implicitly criticized the October 15 pronouncement by the Organization of American States (OAS) that denounced the existence of a “systematic attack on public liberties, as well as mistreatment and torture of political prisoners” in Nicaragua, where the opposition counts more than 100 detained dissidents.

“They say that they are torturing them, that they are dying, that their lips are cooked. How many things they invent simply to create a negative image of Nicaragua before the international organizations run by the Yankees like the OAS!” claimed the president.

He also attacked the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Commission, which last September warned of the “lack of progress” in the human rights situation in Nicaragua.