Biden Administration Steps Up Sanctions on Nicaragua
AntiWarNov 29, 2022
The Facts
On Wednesday, Nicaraguan lawmakers voted to dissolve the local branch of the Red Cross, a nonprofit humanitarian organization, as part of an alleged clampdown on groups seen as hostile to the government of Daniel Ortega.
The National Assembly voted to shut down the Nicaraguan Red Cross, accusing it of "attacks on peace and stability" during antigovernment demonstrations in 2018. The local Red Cross says it merely helped injured demonstrators.
The Spin
Pro-establishment narrative
Nicaragua is a dictatorship and emblematic of a broader trend of democratic backsliding across Latin America that likely spells trouble to the US in the form of political upheaval and increased migration. The Ortega-Murillo regime continuously dishonors past commitments to democracy, and shutting down civil society is an act of an increasingly paranoid and corrupt government.
Establishment-critical narrative
Ortega has more than one reason not to trust the US and the US-backed opposition. As the leader of Nicaragua's left-wing Sandinista revolution, Ortega brought down the dictator Anastasio Somoza García and the then US-sponsored rebels, the Contras, who tried to block his move into legitimate power. The impact of the Contra war and subsequent US sanctions has made the economic reconstruction of Nicaragua impossible.
