The United States announced this Monday that it will continue "using diplomacy, sanctions and visa restrictions" for "promote accountability" after the elections "undemocratic" held this Sunday in Nicaragua, in which the president, Daniel Ortega, and his wife and vice president, Rosario Murillo, have been re-elected with more than 75 percent of the vote, according to the authorities.
The US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, has indicated, however, that the result "has been a foregone conclusion for a long time", since the Government "it has deprived Nicaraguans of any real option by dissolving all genuine opposition parties and jailing all major presidential candidates.
"This repression and electoral manipulation, widely denounced by Nicaraguans and the international community, stripped the November 7 vote of any real meaning. The Ortega-Murillo government denied Nicaraguans their right to vote in free and fair elections and unjustly deprived nearly 40 people of their freedom", has reproached this Monday in a statement shared by the State Department.
In this sense, Blinken has asserted that "although Ortega and Murillo may remain in power entrenched", the "Nicaragua’s undemocratic election does not and cannot provide you with any democratic mandate to govern", while it has made them ugly that "democratic leaders understand that real sovereignty originates from citizenship", mentioning the response of the president and vice president to the international criticism they have received.
In this context, Washington has condemned "this subversion of democratic norms", and has announced that they will continue "using diplomacy", With "coordinated actions with regional allies and partners, sanctions and visa restrictions, as appropriate, to promote accountability of accomplices to undemocratic acts".
The United States will work alongside "other democratic governments" for "press for the return to democracy through free and fair elections and full respect for Human Rights in Nicaragua", something that should start with "the immediate and unconditional release of those unjustly imprisoned".
"Although the current Government of Nicaragua is no longer democratic, the nation of Nicaragua remains a member of the global community committed to democratic principles. The Nicaraguan people deserve to enjoy the freedoms and rights that are respected in a democracy", has concluded the head of American diplomacy.
The Supreme Electoral Council of Nicaragua announced on Monday the provisional results, according to which Ortega would obtain re-election in the general elections on Sunday. His new term will begin in January 2022.
The elections were marked by arbitrary arrests of activists and journalists, among other acts of harassment, coercion and political violence. Furthermore, freedom of the press was also in the government’s sights and the media denounced restrictions and obstacles that made it impossible to carry out their work.
.