WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th November, 2020) The US government has extended sanctions for another year targeting any Nicaraguan officials involved with corruption and human rights abuses, President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday.
"The situation in Nicaragua, including the violent response by the Government of Nicaragua to the protests that began on April 18, 2018, and the Ortega regime's systematic dismantling and undermining of democratic institutions and the rule of law, its use of indiscriminate violence and repressive tactics against civilians, as well as its corruption leading to the destabilization of Nicaragua's economy, continues to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States," Trump said in a letter to the heads of the US House and Senate. "For this reason, I have determined that it is necessary to continue the national emergency declared in Executive Order 13851 with respect to the situation in Nicaragua."
Executive Order 13851 blocks property of Nicaraguan officials involved in human rights abuses or undermining of democracy.
The 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) allows US presidents to invoke emergency authorities to take immediate actions without congressional approval, including imposing economic sanctions - a popular foreign policy and national security tool for many administrations.
