Washington (EFE).- The United States sanctioned three Nicaraguan judges this Wednesday for stripping more than 300 opponents of President Daniel Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, of their citizenship.
Among those left without a Nicaraguan passport are the 222 political prisoners who were banished from the country and sent to the United States last February, including prominent opposition figures such as Félix Maradiaga and Juan Sebastián Chamorro.
The United States blamed Judge Octavio Rothschuh, of the First Court of Criminal Appeals of Managua; Judge Ernesto Rodríguez, of the Managua Court of Appeals, and Judge Nadia Tardencilla, of the Second District Court of Managua, all of them sanctioned by the Treasury Department.
“We will continue to use the diplomatic and economic tools at our disposal to ensure accountability for the abuses of the Ortega-Murillo regime,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned in a statement.
Concern for Bishop Rolando Alvarez, imprisoned in Nicaragua
The leader of US diplomacy also demanded from the Ortega government the “immediate and unconditional release” of Bishop Rolando Álvarez, who refused to go with the group of exiles from his country last February.
According to the US Treasury Department, Judge Rothschuh announced the decision to exile the 222 Nicaraguan prisoners, Judge Rodríguez withdrew the nationality of another 94 people, including journalists, activists and clergymen; and Judge Tardencilla stripped Bishop Álvarez of his nationality after convicting him of treason.
“The Ortega regime continues to engage in anti-democratic actions that target the most vocal opposition figures in Nicaragua, including through its judicial system,” denounced the Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, Brian Nelson. .
As a result of this Wednesday’s action, all the properties in the United States of those sanctioned are blocked and economic and commercial transactions with them are prohibited.