ROSARIO MURILLO

United States sanctions and public criticism of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega was building for months

Roman Catholic Bishop Rolando Álvarez, an outspoken critic of Nicaragua’s government, has been sentenced to 26 years in prison and stripped of his Nicaraguan citizenship, the latest move by President Daniel Ortega against the Catholic church and his opponents.

It's been an electoral campaign without rallies, demonstrations or even real opposition.

Biden's order and other steps announced Monday are perhaps the most aggressive attempt by the U.S. to hold the Ortega accountable for his continued attacks on human rights and democracy.

The Biden administration is ratcheting up pressure on President Daniel Ortega’s authoritarian rule in Nicaragua, banning Americans from doing business in the nation’s gold industry, threatening trade restrictions and stripping the U.S. visas of some 500 government insiders.

Tropical Storm Julia is drenching Guatemala and El Salvador with torrential rains after reemerging in the Pacific

Former hurricane Julia has dissipated, but is drenching Guatemala and El Salvador with rain after reemerging in the Pacific.

Hurricane Julia hit Nicaragua’s central Caribbean coast and dumped torrential rains across Central America before reemerging over the Pacific as a tropical storm.

Nicaraguan police have raided the residence of a Roman Catholic bishop, detaining him and several other people holed up inside for two weeks.

Nicaragua’s government recently shuttered seven radio stations belonging to the Catholic Church.

With virtually no independent journalists left inside and foreign reporters banned from entering, Nicaragua has become 'an information black hole.'

Nicaragua President Daniel Ortega’s government has closed seven radio stations this week owned by the Roman Catholic church, as well as two other outlets serving the largely rural northern area with a history of opposition.

The U.S. has imposed sanctions on Nicaragua’s state-owned gold mining company and the president of its board of directors partly over the Central American nation’s ties to Russia.

The government of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega has authorized Russian troops, planes and ships to deploy to Nicaragua for purposes of training, law enforcement or emergency response.

Nicaragua’s Sandinista-controlled congress has cancelled nearly 200 nongovernmental organizations this week, ranging from a local equestrian group to the 94-year-old Nicaraguan Academy of Letters, in what critics say is President Daniel Ortega’s attempt to eliminate the country’s civil society.

Four years after university students led protests against Nicaragua President Daniel Ortega’s government, his administration is minimizing the chance of a reoccurrence by seizing a dozen private universities and closing them or shifting control to the state

Four years after university students led protests against Nicaragua President Daniel Ortega’s government, his administration is minimizing the chance of a reoccurrence by seizing a dozen private universities and closing them or shifting control to the state.

A day after questioned elections, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega’s government has set about painting as a historic democratic victory what many of the world’s democracies condemned as a sham.

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega is seeking a fourth consecutive term as voting begins in elections against a field of little-known candidates while those who could have given him a real challenge sit in jail.

Back in May, the chances of Nicaragua President Daniel Ortega’s reelection to a fourth consecutive term were looking good.

"The biggest fear is that I'm not gonna get a chance to see him again," "Riverdale" creator Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa told CBS News.

Other countries have lured doctors out of retirement, pushed medical students to the front lines and buoyed medical personnel exhausted by COVID-19 cases, but in Nicaragua doctors have been harassed, threatened and sometimes forced into exile for questioning official handling of the pandemic. Vice President Rosario Murillo, who is also the first lady, has accused doctors of “health terrorism” and of spreading “false outlooks and news” by reporting that COVID-19 has been far more widespread than officials acknowledge. As international health organizations warn of increasing infections in Nicaragua and independent Nicaraguan doctors call for a voluntary quarantine to slow the spread of the delta variant of the coronavirus, the government has made clear that comments out of step with its line are unacceptable as President Daniel Ortega seeks a fourth consecutive term.

The European Union is slapping sanctions on Nicaraguan first lady and Vice-President Rosario Murillo and seven other senior officials accused of serious human rights violations or undermining democracy.

The Nicaraguan government has organized rallies and festivities to mark the anniversary of the July 19, 1979, revolution that overthrew dictator Anastasio Somoza.

The U.S. State Department has announced that it is pulling the travel visas of 100 legislators, judges and prosecutors who aided the regime of President Daniel Ortega.

International criticism of the Nicaraguan government has grown following another night of arrests in Managua.

Political repression in Nicaragua has reached a level of escalation that has not been seen in any Latin American country — except Cuba — in many decades. It’s so massive that many are wondering whether Nicaragua’s autocrat, Daniel Ortega, is trying to set the stage for a long-term dynastic dictatorship.

The government of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega has arrested five opposition leaders, following the detentions of four presidential contenders earlier this month.

Nicaraguan judicial authorities ordered Monday that a potential opposition presidential candidate be held for three months while his case is investigated. Arturo Cruz Sequeira, a former ambassador to the United States, was arrested Saturday under a controversial "treason" law passed in December. Cruz was considered a contender for the nomination of the opposition Citizens for Liberty party in the Nov. 7 elections.

FILE - In this Sept. 5, 2018 file photo, Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega and his wife and Vice President Rosario Murillo, lead a rally in Managua, Nicaragua. The Central American country has created a National Ministry for Extraterrestrial Space Affairs, The Moon and Other Celestial Bodies. (AP Photo/Alfredo Zuniga, File)MANAGUA – Nicaragua has created a new National Ministry for Extraterrestrial Space Affairs, The Moon and Other Celestial Bodies, which is drawing amused reactions on social media in a nation that has been struggling since anti-government protests three years ago. The agency was approved by 76 legislators Wednesday in the country’s congress, which is dominated by President Daniel Ortega’s Sandinista Party. Critics said the country does not have the money to spare for dreams of space exploration.

FILE - In this May 26, 2018 file photo, the Spanish word for "Murderer" covers a mural of Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega, as part of anti-government protests demanding his resignation in Managua, Nicaragua. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix, File)MANAGUA – Nicaragua’s ruling party-dominated Congress passed a law Monday that would essentially ban opposition candidates from running in the 2021 presidential elections. The elections are scheduled for Nov. 7, 2021, and despite term limits — which Ortega has already exceeded — the 75-year-old leader is expected to run again. Nicaragua’s two main opposition groups had announced earlier this year that they will form a coalition to compete in the 2021 race. The U.S. government says it is pressing Ortega to hold free and fair elections and respect basic rights.

Men wade through a street flooded after the passing of Hurricane Iota in La Lima, Honduras, Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2020. Rescuers searched at the site of a landslide in northern Nicaragua, where the local government confirmed four deaths and neighbors spoke of at least 16. Iota arrived Monday evening with winds of 155 mph (250 kph), hitting nearly the same location as Hurricane Eta two weeks earlier. The hurricane season officially ends Nov. 30. ___Associated Press writers Christopher Sherman in Mexico City, Marlon González in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, and Manuel Rueda in Bogota, Colombia, contributed to this report.

A fallen tree lies on the road after the passage of Hurricane Iota in Siuna, Nicaragua, Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2020. Hurricane Iota tore across Nicaragua on Tuesday, hours after roaring ashore as a Category 4 storm along almost exactly the same stretch of the Caribbean coast that was recently devastated by an equally powerful hurricane. By Tuesday night, Iota had diminished to a tropical storm and was moving inland over northern Nicaragua and southern Honduras. Even before Iota hit Nicaragua, it scraped over the tiny Colombian island of Providencia, more than 155 miles (250 kilometers) off Nicaragua's coast. Iota developed later in the season than any other Category 5 storm on record, beating a Nov. 8, 1932, Cuba hurricane, said Colorado State University hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbach.

MANAGUA – Powerful Hurricane Iota made landfall on Nicaragua's Caribbean coast late Monday, threatening catastrophic damage to the same part of Central America already battered by equally strong Hurricane Eta less than two weeks ago. Iota already had been hitting the Caribbean coasts of Nicaragua and Honduras with torrential rains and strong winds. Iota came ashore just 15 miles (25 kilometers) south of where Hurricane Eta made landfall Nov. 3, also as a Category 4 storm. It also sets the record for the latest Category 5 hurricane on record, beating the record set by the Nov. 8, 1932, Cuba Hurricane. Eta had hit Nicaragua as a Category 4 hurricane, killing more than 130 people as torrential rains caused flash floods and mudslides in parts of Central America and Mexico.

(AP Photo/Delmer Martinez)TEGUCIGALPA – Eta is moving over Honduras as a weakened tropical depression but still bringing the heavy rains that have caused deadly landslides while drenching the country's east and the north of neighboring Nicaragua. Heavy rain was forecast to continue across Honduras through at least Thursday as Eta moved northward toward the capital of Tegucigalpa and the northern city of San Pedro Sula. Before the center of Eta even reached Honduras, hundreds of people had been forced from their homes by floodwaters. Eta left a path of destruction across northern Nicaragua, starting with the coastal city of Bilwi. In the country's northern province of Jinotega, communities were already flooded.

(AP Photo/Delmer Martinez)MANAGUA – Eta moved into Honduras on Wednesday as a weakened tropical depression but still bringing the heavy rains that have drenched and caused deadly landslides in the country's east and in northern Nicaragua. Before the center of Eta had even reached Honduras, hundreds of people had been forced from their homes by floodwaters. Eta left a path of destruction across northern Nicaragua starting with the coastal city of Bilwi. Northern Nicaragua is home to most of the country’s production of coffee, a critical export. In the Pacific, Tropical Storm Odalys continued to move across the open ocean and posed no threat to land.

A man fixes the roof of a home surrounded by floodwaters brought on by Hurricane Eta in Wawa, Nicaragua, Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020. (AP Photo/Carlos Herrera)MANAGUA – Hurricane Eta churned inland through northeast Nicaragua Tuesday night with devastating winds and rains that destroyed rooftops, caused rivers to overflow and left at least three people dead in the region. The hurricane had sustained winds of 105 mph (165 kph), according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center, down from an overnight peak of 150 mph (240 kph). Even before it made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane, Honduras reported the first death after a mudslide trapped a 12-year-old girl in San Pedro Sula and two miners were killed in a mudslide in Bonanza, Nicaragua. Hurricane season still has a month to go, ending Nov. 30.

MANAGUA Inside Nicaragua's public hospitals, the walls are plastered with political propaganda, ruling-party activists ensure no information leaks out, and doctors were once forbidden from wearing masks. The government did not respond to a request for comment on the doctors' dismissals and the allegations of repression. Doctors have confirmed the relatives' suspicions, saying hospital administrators order virus deaths be categorized otherwise to keep official numbers low. The result has been dozens of sickened medical workers and more than 70 deaths, according to a count kept by the Medical Associations of Nicaragua. He had been voluntarily treating COVID-19 patients who were turned away from hospitals in Len and Chinandega, in western Nicaragua.

Pastora, one of the most mercurial, charismatic figures of Central Americas revolutionary upheavals, has died. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo, File)MANAGUA – One of the most mercurial, charismatic figures of Central America's revolutionary upheavals, Edén Pastora, died early Tuesday. Pastora dropped out of a Mexican medical school in 1962 and joined the Sandinista National Liberation Front that battled the Somozas. Ortega returned the gesture by appointing him to oversee Nicaragua's part of the San Juan River region bordering Costa Rica. After the protests, as rumors swirled about Ortega’s health, Pastora told the press that he had recommended that the Sandinista National Liberation Front choose a successor.

The nongovernmental organization Citizen Observatory made up of health workers and activists, said it had identified 1,033 suspected COVID-19 infections in the country through Saturday. Plainclothes police and government supporters have detained journalists outside a hospital in Managua and in a cemetery in Chinandega in the past week. A Chinandega doctor, who requested anonymity to avoid retaliation, said she knew four people who had died, including one of her patients, who was buried within two hours of dying. They didn’t take isolation measures, they haven’t protected health workers, there aren’t sufficient beds in any Managua hospital, nor any regional hospital." “The doctor told me (the virus) was dangerous,” while also insisting the elder Ordoñez didn’t have it, he said.