Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 21, 2023 / 13:45 pm
The U.S. Department of State over the weekend announced visa restrictions against dozens of Nicaraguan officials amid broad civil liberties violations from the country’s government, including the seizure of a Jesuit university in the country’s capital city.
The State Department said in a press release on Saturday that it was “taking additional actions” against dictator Daniel Ortega’s “relentless attacks on civil liberties” by “imposing visa restrictions on 100 Nicaraguan municipal officials” who have taken part in those violations.
The department specifically mentioned the regime’s takeover of Universidad Centroamericana (Central American University), a Jesuit university in Managua that Ortega’s forces seized last week. That seizure left nearly 10,000 students without access to education and drew international rebuke.
The State Department in its press release also noted the capture of Bishop Rolando Álvarez, whom the department said was among the “courageous individuals” in Nicaragua who “support a free civil society.”