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US Senate Bill Threatens to Penalize Nicaraguans Responsible for Violence

by VOA News

   A bipartisan group of 10 U.S. senators introduced a bill Wednesday
   threatening sanctions against officials responsible for the violence in
   Nicaragua.

   The bill targets those behind the deaths of anti-government protesters,
   human rights violations and corruption. It also calls for early
   elections and a negotiated settlement.

   "What started as legitimate peaceful protests has turned into a
   months-long massacre as Nicaragua's citizens face state-sponsored
   violence from police and paramilitaries," New Jersey Democrat Bob
   Menendez of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said Wednesday.

   "We can't stay silent as [President] Daniel Ortega and [Vice President
   and first lady] Rosario Murillo target their own people, as evidenced
   by the images of students being shot while seeking refuge inside of a
   church."

   Nine other senators, Democrats and Republicans, echoed Menendez's
   statement.

   Meanwhile, the Organization of American States adopted a resolution
   Wednesday condemning the human rights abuses carried out by the Ortega
   government.

   The resolution passed 21-3 with seven abstentions. It also calls for
   dialogue and early elections.

   Nicaraguan Foreign Minister Denis Moncada called the motion "illegal,
   illegitimate and unfair."

   "We have working institutions ... a constitution. That's why it is not
   right that this permanent council become a sort of court that no one
   has authorized ... to pass judgment on Nicaragua," he said.

   Moncada, like Ortega, calls the protesters terrorists and coup
   plotters.

   Anti-government protests in Nicaragua erupted in April when Ortega
   announced changes to the pension system. He soon gave up those plans,
   but police and pro-government paramilitaries have continued a violent
   crackdown on demonstrators.

   The government says more than 200 people have been killed. Human rights
   groups say the death toll is much higher.