Daniel Ortega got most of the votes in Sunday’s Nicaraguan Presidential Elections, giving him his fourth term. But this election is seen by many world leaders as illegitimate after opposition leaders were either jailed or barred from participating.
"During the Trump administration, we worked with a lot of our partners to put bilateral and multilateral pressure on the Nicaraguan regime to try to ensure free and fair democratic elections. Unfortunately, that did not happen. I am at least happy with the statement that President [Joe] Biden put out, challenging the results of the elections," said Carlos Trujillo, former U.S. Ambassador to the OAS under former President Donald Trump.
Biden said, "long unpopular and now without a democratic mandate, the Ortega and Murillo family now rule Nicaragua as autocrats, no different from the Somoza family that Ortega and the Sandinistas fought four decades ago."
Meanwhile, for the first time, a Latin American country is under investigation by the International Criminal Court. Venezuela is facing allegations of crimes against humanity.
Trujillo indicated "there are many allegations, and a lot of the allegations center on the full violation of human rights. Venezuela runs at extrajudicial center called the SEBIN. This is a military intelligence center that’s run in conjunction with the Venezuelan government, and also the Cuban military forces. At the SEBIN, and around the country, extrajudicial killings are common, torture is common, all sorts of different violations of human rights are exceptionally common."
Trujillo is certain the court will find the country guilty and this will make it very difficult for other countries that legitimized the Maduro regime to continue to do business with them.
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