AP, Managua
The United States has slapped visa restrictions on 50 immediate family members of Nicaraguan officials who have been involved in or benefited from President Daniel Ortega’s growing repression, the US State Department said Friday.
The officials include lawmakers, prosecutors and judges. Over the past two months, Ortega’s government has arrested nearly three dozen opposition figures, including seven potential challengers for the presidency. Nicaragua is scheduled to hold national elections Nov. 7. Ortega is seeking a fourth consecutive term and this week the government placed an opposition vice presidential candidate under house arrest.
“Ortega and (Vice President and first lady Rosario) Murillo once again demonstrated that they are afraid of running against anyone who they feel might win the support of the Nicaraguan people,” the US State Department said in a statement.
On Friday, Nicaragua’s electoral council, which is packed with Ortega’s allies, barred an antigovernment conservative coalition from running in the Nov. 7 elections.
The conservative Citizens for Liberty coalition on Monday registered as its presidential candidate Oscar Sobalvarro, a rancher and former commander in the US-backed “Contra” rebellion against Ortega’s government during the 1980s.
Its vice presidential candidate, Berenice Quezada, has been charged with inciting terrorism, but was released pending trial.
Among those arrested in recent weeks was former Nicaraguan Foreign Minister Francisco Aguirre Sacasa. The 76-year-old was arrested after border police stopped him from leaving Nicaragua to enter Costa Rica. He had planned to fly to Houston for back surgery, two of his children said Friday. Since his July 27 arrest, the family has received no information about his whereabout or condition.
“There are no details, there is no information, we know absolutely nothing,” said Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, one of the former diplomat’s sons.
“The lawyer says he can’t do anything because the case doesn’t exist,” said Georgie Aguirre Sacasa, the ex-diplomat’s daughter.
