Authorities in Nicaragua have arrested at least 60 people for reportedly celebrating or expressing support for the capture of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro, a human rights watchdog group and local media outlets said Friday.
Nicaraguan president Daniel Ortega and his wife, vice president Rosario Murillo, are staunch allies of Maduro, who was captured by US military personnel in Caracas last Saturday and taken to New York to face trial on drug and weapons charges.
The detention in France of a charter plane bound for Nicaragua has renewed attention on the Central American nation’s role as a springboard for migrants from across the world seeking to make their way to the United States.
The flight, which left the United Arab Emirates on 21 December with 303 passengers of Indian nationality, was grounded during a refueling stop after an anonymous tip-off alleging human trafficking.
The passengers, however, were not being trafficked against their will, but rather attempting to migrate.
Nicaragua is the closest country connected by land to the United States that does not impose strict entry requirements upon citizens of many nations who are barred from flying to other destinations without a visa.
TAIPEI, Taiwan — China aspires to open a “naval outpost” in Nicaragua as part of a plan to dominate the Indo-Pacific, Taiwan has warned.
“The Chinese are talking with them about also potentially setting up a naval outpost,” Taiwanese Vice Foreign Minister Alexander Yui told reporters this week. “So they have a very large plan.”
“This (The FBI raid on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago) is what happens in places like Nicaragua,” said Sen. Marco Rubio last week, “where, last year, every single person who ran against Daniel Ortega for President, every single person who put their name on the ballot, was arrested and is still in jail.”
Nicaraguan Catholics are reportedly increasingly upset at Pope Francis for remaining silent as the oppressive Communist regime of dictator Daniel Ortega shuts down Catholic radio stations and sends goon squads to harass protesters.
China has opened an embassy in Nicaragua for the first time since 1990, less than a month after the central American country cut ties with Taiwan.
The Nicaraguan foreign minister, Denis Moncada, said there was an “ideological affinity” between the two countries and thanked China for donating 1m doses of the Sinopharm coronavirus vaccine.
Nicaragua’s president, Daniel Ortega, established relations with China in 1985, but after he lost the election in 1990, Nicaragua recognised Taiwan.
WASHINGTON, Dec 10 (Reuters) – Nicaragua’s sudden diplomatic switch from Taiwan to China was part of efforts by President Daniel Ortega’s government to shield itself from recent international sanctions against Managua, a senior U.S. administration official said on Friday.
The United States is also uncertain whether Honduras could follow suit and open diplomatic ties with Beijing, the U.S. official told Reuters, but added Washington was ready to “surge” economic aid to the incoming government of Xiomara Castro.
Daniel Ortega, due to be elected to a fourth term tomorrow, is using the methods of the corrupt dynasty he toppled
Fuelled by allegations of murder, incest and witchcraft, a sinister drama is unfolding in Nicaragua, the benighted Central American country known for fragrant cigars and a volcanic landscape that matches its volatile politics.
In the lead role is Daniel Ortega, 75, former revolutionary and icon of the left, who has locked up most of his opponents and forced the rest into exile, much like the dictator he toppled 40 years ago. Effectively running unopposed, he is certain to win a fourth term in office in today’s election, which the United States and Europe have dismissed as a “sham”.
Less certain is what the next act will bring: will Rosario Murillo, 70, his wife and increasingly powerful “co-president” eclipse him in power? For her many critics, she is a cruel and Machiavellian figure with mystic interests and a taste for revenge.
