In Nicaragua, Ortega unleashes the legislative weapon against his opponents

The repression exercised by the Nicaraguan President, Daniel Ortega, on the opposition, is shifting to the legislative field: the National Assembly, won over to the former Sandinista guerrilla, is preparing to vote three liberticidal bills for repressive purposes which cause an international outcry. Two and a half years after the start of a popular revolt, repressed in blood, the regime unleashes the parliamentary weapon to muzzle the opposition in view of the 2021 elections.

Life sentence, financial control, ineligibility… Several swords of Damocles hang over the opponents of Mr. Ortega. Scheduled for October 13, the vote on the draft “law for the regulation of foreign agents” would require any person, natural or legal, who receives foreign funds, to register with the Ministry of the Interior, resulting in close monitoring and financial control. The interested party should also “To refrain from intervening in matters of domestic policy”, no longer able to stand for election. In their sights: the presidential and legislative elections, set for November 7, 2021, in which Mr. Ortega could stand for a fourth term alongside his wife and vice-president, Rosario Murillo.

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It’s just a patriotic law for the defense of national sovereignty », Reassures in the media Gustavo Porras, President of the National Assembly and deputy of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), party of Mr. Ortega. Opposite, the opposition coalition, Blue and White National Unit (UNAB), is raising the alarm signal against “Authoritarian control” on civil society, the media, and human rights organizations. The UNAB dubbed the project “Putin Law”, in reference to similar Russian legislation dating from 2012.

“Crimes against humanity”

Called “#NoNosCallaran (” They will not silence us “)”, a new mobilization was organized on the Web, Wednesday, October 7, to denounce another liberticidal project: the “law on cyber crimes” which provides for convictions of up to to four years in prison against fake news. The UNAB castigates censorship on digital media, widely used by protesters in a country where the Web remains one of the rare spaces of expression not controlled by the regime.

The former revolutionary hero resists an insurrectionary movement which calls for the end of a “nepotist” and “corrupt” regime.

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