The United States remains “deeply concerned about the authoritarian path” Nicaragua has taken. The scenario has worsened after the November general elections. Washington insists that these elections did not have the necessary conditions for a free and transparent process and urges its partners and allies to continue pressuring the Nicaraguan government.
“As President (Joe) Biden has said, what President Daniel Ortega and Vice President Rosario Murillo orchestrated on November 7 was a sham election that was neither free nor fair,” said Emily Mendrala, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.
The official, who participated in a session of the Washington-based Inter-American Dialogue group to address the situation in the Central American country, insisted that the current government in Managua “no longer has a democratic mandate.”
In response to this situation, Mendrala pledged to continue “using the diplomatic and economic tools” that are available to “support Nicaraguans’ calls for greater freedom, responsibility” with the goal of achieving “free and fair elections.”
The White House is aware this movement cannot be done independently, but rather requires the majority support of governments across the continent. Therefore, Mendrala, on behalf of the administration, urged “like-minded partners in the region and around the world who support democratic values to join in these efforts.”
“We are with the Nicaraguan people who seek a government that respects the will of the people and the democratic process,” she noted.
At the end of last year, the U.S. Government, with bipartisan support, gave the green light to the Law to Strengthen Nicaragua’s Adherence to the Conditions for Electoral Reform, known as the Renacer Law, whose purpose was to further pressure Ortega and Murillo in light of the lack of democratic guarantees and the repressive actions against opponents and activists fighting against the Nicaraguan President.
Mendrala, USA representative, also pointed out that the Nicaraguan government failed to comply with its commitments under the Inter-American Democratic Charter, which was signed 20 years ago, allowing “its citizens to have the right to democracy.” The agreement also obliged the Nicaraguan Administration to “promote and defend that right.”
The United States remains “committed as ever to the restoration of democracy in Nicaragua” and welcomed the gesture of other nations to join in efforts “to support and give hope to the people of Nicaragua, who aspire to choose their leaders through free and fair elections.”
“The world will not be deterred by the autocratic regime, and we stand in solidarity with the Nicaraguan people,” she concluded.
