U.S. sanctions 93 Nicaraguan officials with visa restrictions 

The U.S. government imposed visa restrictions on almost 100 Nicaraguan officials on Monday after accusing them of “undermining democracy” as the country continues to crackdown on opposition members. 

According to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, the 93 officials include judges, prosecutors, ministry officials, and members of the Central American country’s national assembly. 

“The United States remains deeply concerned about the Ortega-Murillo regime’s unjust detentions of political prisoners and ongoing abuses against members of civil society,” Blinken said in a statement.

Blinken added that the individuals sanctioned helped the Nicaraguan regime persecute opposition leaders, human rights activists, and others. 

“The regime holds over 180 political prisoners, with many suffering from a lack of adequate food, proper medical care, and even sunlight. One political prisoner has died, and others remain in solitary confinement,” said the State Department. 

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega has been widely criticized for the November 2021 presidential elections, when he was elected as president for the fourth consecutive term. Ahead of the elections, the regime arrested more than 46 opposition leaders and six other presidential candidates. 

“National Assembly members and Ministry of Interior officials enabled the Ortega-Murillo regime to tighten its authoritarian grip over Nicaraguan citizens and institutions by using repressive laws to strip more than 400 NGOs and a dozen universities of their legal status,” Blinken continued, adding that judges and prosecutors “share complicity.”

This year alone, Ortega’s government has closed more than 200 NGOs and civic groups that it views as opposed to the regime. Ortega claims that these groups receive funding from abroad to conspire to remove him from office.

The government did not release the names of those sanctioned. 

The U.S. government previously imposed visa restrictions on 116 Nicaraguan officials, “including mayors, prosecutors, university administrators, as well as police, prison, and military officials.” 

The Treasury Department also froze the U.S. assets of the Central American country’s defense minister and other officials.