US unlikely to invite Cuba, Nicaragua or Venezuela to summit
The Biden administration is unlikely to invite the leaders of Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba to the upcoming Summit of the Americas, a senior State Department official said Wednesday while sidestepping questions about an eventual role for Venezuela's opposition leader at the gathering of hemispheric leaders. The summit, to take place in Los Angeles in early June, will focus on defending democracy and human rights in the Western Hemisphere as well as addressing irregular migration, climate change and efforts to ensure equitable growth as the region emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic, Assistant Secretary of State Brian Nichols told reporters.
news.yahoo.comNicaragua says it is closing OAS offices, expelling staff
The Nicaraguan government said Sunday it is closing the Nicaragua offices of the Organization of the American States and expelling the staff. The announcement was the latest in a string of dozens of expulsions or jailings carried out by the government of President Daniel Ortega. In March, Nicaragua suffered the humilliating criticism of the country’s own ambassador to the OAS criticizing the arrests.
news.yahoo.comNicaragua tightens grip on universities to stifle dissent
Four years after university students led protests against Nicaragua President Daniel Ortega’s government, his administration is minimizing the chance of a reoccurrence by seizing a dozen private universities and closing them or shifting control to the state
washingtonpost.comNicaragua tightens grip on universities to stifle dissent
Four years after university students led protests against Nicaragua President Daniel Ortega’s government, his administration is minimizing the chance of a reoccurrence by seizing a dozen private universities and closing them or shifting control to the state.
Vatican in 'pain' at Nicaragua expulsion of papal nuncio
The Vatican on Saturday expressed “surprise and pain” at Nicaragua's expulsion of the papal nuncio, which comes at a time of growing pressure on opposition figures in the Central American nation. Waldemar Stanislaw Sommertag was “grave and unjustified.” It said the action was “incomprehensible” because Sommertag “has worked tirelessly for the good of the church and of the Nicaraguan people,” while “always seeking to promote good relations” between the Vatican and Nicaraguan authorities.
news.yahoo.comNicaragua tries, sentences more opposition leaders
One-time Nicaragua presidential aspirant Cristiana Chamorro and one of her brothers were among five people formally placed on trial Thursday. Chamorro, 68, has been under house arrest since June 2. Chamorro, her brother Pedro Joaquín Chamorro and three former employees of the Violeta Barrios de Chamorro Foundation will be tried for money laundering and other alleged crimes.
news.yahoo.comMusical story of Esther set for auditions, performances
Nicaragua has been holding what the U.S. considers daily show trials against antigovernment activists rounded up ahead of last fall's elections. Such a move would effectively dare Ortega to sue under the treaty's terms, kicking off a lengthy and costly process. Choosing sugar could be a way to mobilize Carlos Pellas, Nicaragua's wealthiest man and owner of the largest sugar producer. Pellas was a signatory to an open letter from business leaders after antigovernment protests in 2018, calling on Ortega to move up elections. He warned that the country's economic model was bankrupt.
dailytimes.comArgentina protests Iranian suspect at Nicaragua event
The presence of a senior Iranian official at the investiture of Nicaragua’s president has angered Argentina, which alleges the official was involved in the 1994 bombing of a Jewish center in Buenos Aires that killed 85 people. Rezaei, a former leader of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, is wanted by Argentina on an Interpol “Red Notice” because of the attack.
news.yahoo.comNicaragua seizes former Taiwan embassy to give it to China
The Nicaraguan government has seized the former embassy and diplomatic offices of Taiwan, saying they belong to China. President Daniel Ortega’s government broke off relations with Taiwan this month, saying it would recognize only the mainland government. Before departing, Taiwanese diplomats attempted to donate the properties to the Roman Catholic archdiocese of Managua.
news.yahoo.comMexico overhauls handling of migrants to release pressure
Benjamín Villalta, a 39-year-old Nicaraguan, couldn’t believe that a Mexican immigration office would open in the middle of the night to give him and some 40 other migrants humanitarian visas that would allow them to move about Mexico and work.
Nicaragua says it will leave Organization of American States
Nicaragua’s government announced Friday that it will withdraw from the Organization of American States, a regional body that has accused President Daniel Ortega's government of acts of repression and rigging this month’s election. Nicaragua Foreign Minister Denis Moncada said in a news conference that he sent an “official communication” to OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro citing the body’s “repeated acts of meddling” in Nicaragua.
news.yahoo.comLiving on the Great Lakes -- a dream threatened by climate change
The five bodies of water that make up the Great Lakes, which account for more than 20 percent of the world’s freshwater supply, have always risen and fallen over the decades. But climate change has now made the extremes much stronger than before, with residents installing hurricane shutters and signs of erosion becoming severe. Researcher Aaron Packman warns, "We're going to see increasing lakefront damage and we're going to see increasing inland flooding."
news.yahoo.com"It's completely Orwellian": How Daniel Ortega tightened his grip on power in Nicaragua
Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega has had his political opponents beaten and thrown in jail and passed legislation making criticism of the government a form of treason. Sharyn Alfonsi reports on the loss of democracy in Nicaragua.
cbsnews.comWives of jailed Nicaraguan political prisoners speak to 60 Minutes in first U.S. television interview
Nicaraguan dictator Daniel Ortega has tightened his grip on power by making dozens of arrests of political opponents, journalists and protesters. Sunday, 60 Minutes speaks to the wives of two imprisoned men who were planning to oppose Ortega in next week's elections.
cbsnews.comNicaragua's President Ortega calls bishops 'terrorists'
Nicaragua’s increasingly isolated President Daniel Ortega called Roman Catholic bishops “terrorists” Monday and said many countries would have arrested them. Ortega claims widespread protests that erupted in April 2018 were an attempted coup with foreign backing. Ortega appeared to be referring to a pro-democracy plan submitted by Nicaragua's council of bishops during those talks.
news.yahoo.comUS pulls defense attaché out of Nicaragua after comments
The United States government has pulled its defense attache out of Nicaragua following comments complimentary of Nicaragua’s military that drew the ire of the political opposition. Last week, the Nicaraguan government published comments from Lt. Col. Roger Antonio Carvajal Santamaria during a Sept. 23 gathering of Nicaragua’s military leadership and military attaches from several countries. Carvajal said Nicaragua’s military is a “large part of the growth and stability of this country,” according to a statement published by Nicaragua’s defense ministry.
news.yahoo.comNicaragua arrests 7th presidential contender in Nov. 7 vote
Nicaraguan police placed under house arrest a seventh presidential contender on Saturday, meaning that almost all of those who could have challenged President Daniel Ortega in the Nov. 7 elections have now been detained. Opposition leader Noel Vidaurre was placed under police custody at his home on Saturday, as was political commentator Jaime Arellano. Arellano had been called in for questioning regarding a commentary he wrote criticizing an Ortega speech.
news.yahoo.comNicaragua marks 1979 revolution date with opponents jailed
The Nicaraguan government organized rallies and festivities Monday to mark the anniversary of the July 19, 1979, revolution that overthrew dictator Anastasio Somoza. Several of the leading Sandinista revolutionaries who fought alongside Ortega in 1979 have now been jailed by him. Ortega, 75, is seeking a fourth consecutive term in Nov. 7 elections, and his six main potential rivals have been detained.
news.yahoo.comUS pulls visas of 100 Nicaraguan legislators, judges
The U.S. State Department announced Monday it is revoking the travel visas of 100 legislators, judges and prosecutors who aided the regime of President Daniel Ortega. The department said the visa cancellations came in response to the arrests by Ortega’s Sandinista government of at least 26 members of the opposition and most potential candidates in the Nov. 7 elections. In June, Mexico and Argentina recalled their ambassadors to Nicaragua for consultations, and the Organization of American States passed a resolution condemning the recent arrests of key opposition figures.
news.yahoo.comFor democracy, it's a time of swimming against the tide
The old Nicaraguan revolutionary, with his receding hairline and the goatee that he had finally let turn grey, spoke calmly into the camera as police swarmed toward his house, hidden behind a high wall in a leafy Managua neighborhood. Decades earlier, Hugo Torres had been a revered guerrilla in the fight against right-wing dictator Anastasio Somoza. Among those prisoners was Daniel Ortega, a Marxist bank robber who would become Nicaragua’s elected president and later its authoritarian ruler.
news.yahoo.comNicaragua arrests 6 more opposition figures; EU weighs move
Nicaraguan police arrested a half dozen more opposition figures, including the sixth presidential hopeful to have been arrested in a crackdown that started last month. Among those arrested Monday was Lesther Alemán, a former student leader who returned to Nicaragua after exile but stayed in safe houses. Two leaders of farmers' groups, Pedro Mena and Freddy Navas, were also arrested, and a third, Pablo Morales, was listed by opposition activists as having been detained.
news.yahoo.comLoved and decried, El Salvador's populist leader is defiant
In El Salvador, most are not bothered by President Nayib Bukele’s dictatorial maneuvers -- sending armed troops into congress to coerce a vote, or ousting independent judges from the country’s highest court, paving the way to control all branches of government.
South Florida lawmakers increase pressure on Ortega ahead of Nicaraguan elections
Republicans and Democrats in Congress, including most of South Florida’s representatives, are introducing new legislation in response to an ongoing crackdown on political dissent in Nicaragua by leftist President Daniel Ortega.
news.yahoo.comNicaragua spirals deeper into repression as Ortega jails rivals and former allies
Nicaragua’s President Daniel Ortega stepped up attacks on his political opponents over the weekend by arresting five leading critics, including three former allies who fought alongside him during the Sandinista revolution, as he continues to suppress the opposition ahead of presidential elections in November.
news.yahoo.comNicaragua stages unprecedented roundup of opposition leaders
Nicaraguan police have arrested another opposition politician, bringing to six the number detained over the weekend. Five were arrested on Sunday, the biggest one-day roundup so far in President Daniel Ortega’s campaign to jail anyone who might challenge his rule. The last arrest, which came late Sunday, was that of Victor Hugo Tinoco, the leader of the political movement Unamos.
news.yahoo.comUS urging Central America to tackle poverty, corruption
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is trying to entice Central American nations to tackle the corruption and poverty that have helped drive a surge of migrants to the U.S.-Mexico border and presented an early challenge for the Biden administration.
Nicaragua creates Ministry of Extraterrestrial Space Affairs
FILE - In this Sept. 5, 2018 file photo, Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega and his wife and Vice President Rosario Murillo, lead a rally in Managua, Nicaragua. The Central American country has created a National Ministry for Extraterrestrial Space Affairs, The Moon and Other Celestial Bodies. (AP Photo/Alfredo Zuniga, File)MANAGUA – Nicaragua has created a new National Ministry for Extraterrestrial Space Affairs, The Moon and Other Celestial Bodies, which is drawing amused reactions on social media in a nation that has been struggling since anti-government protests three years ago. The agency was approved by 76 legislators Wednesday in the country’s congress, which is dominated by President Daniel Ortega’s Sandinista Party. Critics said the country does not have the money to spare for dreams of space exploration.
Nicaragua approves Russian COVID-19 vaccine
A nurse shows to the press a vial of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine for COVID-19 during a vaccination campaign inside River Plate stadium in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2021. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)MANAGUA – Nicaragua’s government said Wednesday that it had approved Russia’s Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use. “Nicaragua is advancing in its negotiations with Russia to supply” the vaccine, said the government outlet El 19 Digital. It was the first vaccine approved in Nicaragua, which still awaits its first doses. Argentina, Bolivia and Venezuela are among other left-leaning governments in the hemisphere that have approved the vaccine.
Ex-foreign correspondent reflects on risks for US reporters
There is increasing concern for the safety of journalists covering protests at state capitals across the U.S., and in Washington. This week, now as a reporter in Oregon, I attended virtual training by the state police on what to do if there's a shooting rampage in the Oregon Capitol. The Legislature’s leadership, for the first time, included journalists in the training after several were assaulted by rioters outside the state Capitol in December. What has happened at the Oregon Capitol is a clear example of how those divisions have become sharper and more bitter. Until last year, protests at the marble-sheathed state Capitol had been relatively mild.
Nicaragua essentially bans opposition from 2021 elections
FILE - In this May 26, 2018 file photo, the Spanish word for "Murderer" covers a mural of Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega, as part of anti-government protests demanding his resignation in Managua, Nicaragua. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix, File)MANAGUA – Nicaragua’s ruling party-dominated Congress passed a law Monday that would essentially ban opposition candidates from running in the 2021 presidential elections. The elections are scheduled for Nov. 7, 2021, and despite term limits — which Ortega has already exceeded — the 75-year-old leader is expected to run again. Nicaragua’s two main opposition groups had announced earlier this year that they will form a coalition to compete in the 2021 race. The U.S. government says it is pressing Ortega to hold free and fair elections and respect basic rights.
Latin America's evangelical churches hard hit by pandemic
Throughout Latin America, a traditionally Catholic region with a surging evangelical presence in nearly every country, evangelical churches have kept spreading the Gospel despite government measures meant to slow the spread of the coronavirus. In at least two countries, evangelical pastors have died in alarming numbers during the pandemic. Some have attended evangelical services in the city of Atalaia do Norte and then brought the virus to our lands," he said. In Nicaragua, evangelical churches large and small stayed open too at least at first. Back in Nicaragua, many evangelical churches have reopened, some with health precautions, like Bethel where congregants are asked to bring their own hand sanitizer.
During pandemic, Nicaraguan doctors face political pressure
MANAGUA Inside Nicaragua's public hospitals, the walls are plastered with political propaganda, ruling-party activists ensure no information leaks out, and doctors were once forbidden from wearing masks. The government did not respond to a request for comment on the doctors' dismissals and the allegations of repression. Doctors have confirmed the relatives' suspicions, saying hospital administrators order virus deaths be categorized otherwise to keep official numbers low. The result has been dozens of sickened medical workers and more than 70 deaths, according to a count kept by the Medical Associations of Nicaragua. He had been voluntarily treating COVID-19 patients who were turned away from hospitals in Len and Chinandega, in western Nicaragua.
Edn Pastora, Nicarguan revolutionary, dead at 83
Pastora, one of the most mercurial, charismatic figures of Central Americas revolutionary upheavals, has died. His son Alvaro Pastora said Tuesday, June 16, 2020 that he died at Managuas Military Hospital of respiratory failure. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo, File)MANAGUA One of the most mercurial, charismatic figures of Central America's revolutionary upheavals, Edn Pastora, died early Tuesday. Edn Atanacio Pastora Gmez was born Nov. 15, 1936, in Ciudad Daro, Nicaragua. After the protests, as rumors swirled about Ortegas health, Pastora told the press that he had recommended that the Sandinista National Liberation Front choose a successor.
Nicaraguan baseball manager fired after speaking about virus
During a May 16 game, manager Norman Cardoze Sr. and coach Carlos Aranda felt sick. Cardozes son Norman Jr., the teams star slugger, was so weak and achy he didnt play. (AP Photo/Alfredo Zuniga)MANAGUA MANAGUA, NicaraguaA Nicaraguan Hall of Fame baseball manager was fired Tuesday, days after publicly speaking about being hospitalized with COVID-19 along with his son and coach. Norman Cardoze Sr., manager of the San Fernando Beasts, was not given a reason for his firing, but his wife Ftima Ruiz said the family suspects it was because they spoke out about being infected with the virus. Cardoze Sr. described the horror of watching people essentially suffocate before his eyes and seeing their bodies wrapped in plastic and removed.
A death in Nicaraguan baseball puts pandemic in public eye
A man watches a professional baseball game between Boer de Managua and Flecheros de Matagalpa at Dennis Martinez stadium in Managua, Nicaragua, Saturday, April 25, 2020. Then, during a May 16 game in the capital, Managua, manager Norman Cardoze Sr. and coach Carlos Aranda felt sick. Cardozes son Norman Jr., the teams star slugger, was so weak and achy he didnt play. The Cardoze father and son, who tested positive for the virus, spent a week in the hospital. Were like the circus clowns, while a ton of people without heart or conscience are risking the lives of the players and the fans, Carlos Aranda Sr. said.