Central America
EU, US widen Nicaragua sanctions as Ortega begins new term
AFP
Daniel Ortega was sworn in Monday as Nicaragua’s president for a fourth straight term as the EU and US tightened sanctions over impugned elections held in November with all his challengers in jail.
“Yes, I swear,” said strongman Ortega as he and his wife Rosario Murillo, who was re-elected vice-president, were sworn in at a ceremony attended by the presidents of Cuba and Venezuela and envoys from China, Russia, Iran, North Korea and Syria, among others.
Even before the event got under way, the European Union announced fresh sanctions against individuals it accuses of “undermining democracy” and human rights abuses in Nicaragua, including Ortega’s daughter and a son — both working as presidential advisors.
Others sanctioned “in view of the worsening situation in Nicaragua” were senior officials of the country’s police force and electoral body, said the EU.
In Washington, the US Treasury placed sanctions on six regime officials, including two generals, the defense minister, the head of the Supreme Electoral Council and officials of the telecommunications regulator, who allegedly ran a social media troll farm to help Ortega.
Travel restrictions were imposed on 116 individuals tied to the regime, including mayors, prosecutors, security and university officials “complicit in undermining democracy,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.
In his inaugural address, Ortega, 76, mocked the sanctions, calling them a “decoration” for Brenda Rocha, the electoral council head, who was one of the officials sanctioned.
He called the US measures “cowardly” and “cruel (…) not just to Nicaragua” but also to Cuba and Venezuela, which have also been subjected for years to “brutal sanctions” that he said must cease.
– Russia and China –
In the months leading up to the November 7 vote, Nicaraguan authorities detained nearly 40 opposition figures, including seven would-be presidential challengers, assuring victory for long-time ruler Ortega.
As the international community rained opprobrium and sanctions on Ortega, he sought to improve ties with economic giants China and Russia.
Managua switched diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to Beijing, in return for which China reopened its embassy in the Central American nation and donated thousands of coronavirus vaccines.
Moscow, in response to outreach from Managua, provided the country with wheat, vaccines, even buses for public transport.
A firebrand Marxist in his youth, Ortega ruled Nicaragua from 1979 to 1990, after leading a guerrilla army that ousted US-backed dictator Anastasio Somoza.
Returning to power in 2007, he has won re-election three times, becoming increasingly dictatorial and quashing presidential term limits.
Ortega, with Murillo on his ticket, garnered 75 percent of the vote in November.
The election took place without independent international observers and with most foreign media denied access to the country.
The Nicaraguan parliament is dominated by Ortega allies, who also control the judiciary and electoral bodies.
Days before the election, Facebook announced it had closed a Nicaraguan government troll farm spreading anti-opposition messages.
Besides Rocha, the head of the Supreme Electoral Council, the European Union also imposed sanctions on the council’s deputy head and a senior official who was acting chief in 2018.
The country’s telecoms enterprise was also listed for its bid “to silence independent media” and spread “disinformation.”
– ‘Sham’ –
US President Joe Biden has slammed the vote as a “sham” and the Washington-based Organization of American States (OAS) said it was “not free, just or transparent.”
As sanctions were almost immediately announced by the US, EU, Canada, and Britain, Russia attacked the West for not recognizing the results.
“We consider this unacceptable and we strongly condemn such a stance,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in November.
The US State Department says Ortega’s regime continues to hold 170 political prisoners.
They include some 120 people who participated in anti-government protests in 2018 that were brutally repressed, causing more than 300 deaths and sending more than 100,000 people into exile, according to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
Ortega insists the jailed are criminals and “terrorists” seeking to overthrow him with help from the United States.
Dozens of Nicaraguan exiles protested in neighboring Costa Rica on Sunday against Ortega’s inauguration.
The protest came on the same day that Nicaragua’s new parliament, also elected in November and dominated by Ortega’s left-wing Sandinista National Liberation Front, was officially opened.
Central America
Honduras vote vount drags on as Asfura and Nasralla remain in technical tie
Honduras remained on edge this Friday as the presidential election vote count continued, with a technical tie persisting between right-wing candidates Nasry Asfura, backed by U.S. President Donald Trump, and Salvador Nasralla, five days after the election.
The vote tally has progressed slowly, with interruptions and amid fraud allegations from Nasralla, the 72-year-old television host and candidate of the Liberal Party (PL).
“The world is already talking about the fraud they are trying to commit against” the Liberal Party, Nasralla wrote on X, as he denounced irregularities in the uploading of vote tally sheets into the system and announced legal challenges.
With 88% of the polling station records counted, Asfura of the conservative National Party (PN) leads with 40.20%, while Nasralla follows closely with 39.47%, according to the National Electoral Council (CNE).
Around 2,000 tally sheets with inconsistencies will also undergo a special review. Nasralla has questioned whether the CNE will be able to deliver final results before December 30, the legal deadline for announcing the official outcome.
Central America
Juan Orlando Hernández thanks Donald Trump after U.S. pardon
Former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández expressed his gratitude on Wednesday to U.S. President Donald Trump after being pardoned on Monday following more than three years in a New York prison, where he had been sentenced in 2024 to 45 years for drug trafficking and firearms offenses.
Hernández thanked Trump on social media platform X, stating: “President Trump, thank you for listening and responding when it was most needed. You saw the injustice committed against me and my country and corrected it. Your support for Honduras, your leadership, and your timely decision meant everything to my freedom and my nation. You have my respect and gratitude forever.”
In his message, Hernández began by saying: “THANK GOD. All glory be to Him. I am a free man. I said it when I left my home, I said it when I was unjustly convicted, and I say it today as I regain my freedom. I am innocent.”
He also expressed deep appreciation to his family and friends who “never stopped fighting and praying” for him, while blaming, as Trump had, the administration of former U.S. President Joe Biden for his conviction. Hernández described his trial as a manipulated process orchestrated by the Biden-Harris administration and the deep state, claiming there was no real evidence, only accusations from criminals seeking revenge.
Hernández was extradited to the U.S. in April 2022 and sentenced in June 2024. His wife, Ana García, told EFE that Hernández had written to Trump on October 28, his 57th birthday, requesting a pardon, which Trump granted. García added that the couple has not yet decided whether Hernández will return to Honduras, where he could face investigations for alleged corruption, according to Attorney General Johel Zelaya.
Central America
Honduras Extends Voting by One Hour Amid High Turnout, CNE Announces
The National Electoral Council (CNE) announced that polling stations will remain open an extra hour due to the high voter turnout in Honduras’ general elections this Sunday.
These elections—the twelfth since the country returned to constitutional order in 1980 after nearly two decades of military governments—will now run until 6:00 p.m. local time (00:00 GMT), the CNE said in a statement.
The extension may only be applied for the additional hour established in the Electoral Law, and polling stations may close only after the last voter already in line at closing time has cast their ballot, ensuring that all those waiting are able to participate, the CNE added.
More than six million of Honduras’ ten million inhabitants were called to the polls to elect the successor to leftist President Xiomara Castro, as well as 298 municipal mayors, 128 members of the national Congress, and 20 representatives to the Central American Parliament.
The presidential race features Rixi Moncada, candidate of the ruling Liberty and Refoundation Party (Libre); Nasry Asfura of the National Party, the main opposition force—publicly endorsed by U.S. President Donald Trump—and Salvador Nasralla of the Liberal Party, also running from the opposition.
Before the extension was announced, the CNE had indicated it would release its first preliminary report around 9:00 p.m. local time (03:00 GMT) and a second one at 11:00 p.m. (05:00 GMT). Final results must be published within 30 days following the election.
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