Biden bars Nicaraguan officials from entering America

Nicaragua’s President Daniel Ortega (right) and his wife and Vice-President Rosario Murillo applaud at an event in Managua. Pic/AFP

President Joe Biden on Tuesday proclaimed nearly all Nicaraguan officials, including President Daniel Ortega and his spouse, barred from entering the United States in response to alleged "repressive and abusive" acts by the Central American nation's government.

"I have determined that it is in the interest of the US to restrict and suspend the entry into the US, as immigrants and non-immigrants, of members of the Government of Nicaragua, led by President Daniel Ortega, including his spouse and Vice President Rosario Murillo, and others described in this proclamation who formulate, implement, or benefit from policies or actions that undermine or injure democratic institutions or impede the return to democracy in Nicaragua," Biden said in a proclamation.

In addition to this measure, Biden has extended the operation of the National Emergency Act with respect to Nicaragua, which was initially signed in 2018, due to the same reasons described in the proclamation.

Nicaragua held its presidential and parliamentary elections on November 7, with Ortega securing a fourth consecutive five-year term. Since early June, several dozen opposition politicians and activists have been arrested in Nicaragua on various charges, including seven presidential candidates. Critics of Ortega accuse him of having cracked down on opponents ahead of the elections.

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