State Department Urges International Community To Join US' Nicaragua Sanctions

The United States calls on the international community to join its recent sanctions against Nicaragua to "impose additional costs" on the country's government for its rights abuses and crackdown on non-governmental organizations (NGOs), State Department spokesman Robert Palladino said.

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 14th December, 2018) The United States calls on the international community to join its recent sanctions against Nicaragua to "impose additional costs" on the country's government for its rights abuses and crackdown on non-governmental organizations (NGOs), State Department spokesman Robert Palladino said.

Earlier in the week, media reported that Nicaragua's ruling Sandinista National Liberation Front party stripped the legal status of the NGOs that had supported the month-long opposition protests. According to the State Department, the move reveals the country's leadership's "continued contempt for human rights."

"Pursuant to the Executive Order by President [Donald] Trump on November 27, the United States will hold accountable those responsible for the abuses taking place in Nicaragua, including any individuals complicit with the regime. We urge the international community to join us condemning these actions and take concrete measures to impose additional costs for the regime's anti-democratic behavior," Palladino said on Thursday.

The statement follows the US decision to sanction Nicaragua's Vice President and First Lady Rosario Murillo as well as National Security Advisor Nestor Moncada for purported corruption and human rights abuses.

Nicaragua has been in the international focus since April when people took to the streets to protest unpopular social security reforms announced by Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega. After several days of protests, Ortega canceled the reforms, but the protests, which were accompanied by violence and clashes, have nevertheless continued.

In November, the Nicaraguan Foreign Ministry said 198 people were killed, including police officers, and more than 1,200 others were injured during the protests.