Moscow Denounces Increased US Pressure On Nicaragua Before Elections

As the general elections in Nicaragua approach, the United States is putting more pressure on the Latin American country, the spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, said on Friday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 09th July, 2021) As the general elections in Nicaragua approach, the United States is putting more pressure on the Latin American country, the spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, said on Friday.

"As the general elections scheduled for November 7 in that state [Nicaragua] approach, the powerful wave of external pressure on the legitimate government of President Daniel Ortega increases," Zakharova said at a press conference.

According to the spokeswoman, the American objective is to destabilize the country in order to oust the Sandinistas, followers of the socialist Sandinista National Liberation Front party, from power.

"It is striking that the flagrant interference in the internal affairs of Nicaragua, particularly in financing matters, is clearly reflected in the US legislative framework," Zakharova said.

In November 2018, former US President Donald Trump approved an executive order declaring that the Nicaraguan Government "constitutes an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States."

"The efforts are .

.. intensifying to involve NGOs under control in anti-government work," the diplomat said, adding that the US Ambassador to Managua personally deals with representatives from controlled NGOs.

Last month, the US imposed sanctions on four Nicaraguan nationals, including the daughter of President Daniel Ortega, vowing to continue to expose those officials who ignore the will of its citizens, saying that "president Ortega's actions were harming Nicaraguans and driving the country deeper into tyranny."

In December 2020, Nicaragua's National Assembly adopted a law to prevent people whom the government believes financed attempts to oust Ortega, or encouraged sanctions against his officials, from running in 2021 general elections.

The government detained several political opponents in the run-up to the election, including presidential hopefuls Arturo Jose Cruz Sequeira and Cristiana Chamorro, both of whom sought to unseat Ortega as he attempts to run for a fourth term.

President Ortega has been a major political force in the country since the Sandinista Party overthrew the US-backed dictatorship of Anastasio Somoza in 1979.