Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, along with his wife and vice president, Rosario Murillo, in a file image taken in Managua on October 13, 2018 (Inti Ocon / AFP / Getty Images).
(CNN Spanish) -
With 609 votes in favor, 21 against and 69 abstentions, the European Parliament approved in Belgium this Thursday a resolution on Nicaragua, which establishes the application of sanctions against the country's president Daniel Ortega and his wife and vice president, Rosario Murillo.
The measure also includes the invocation of a democratic clause that could suspend the country from the Trade Association Agreement if the National Assembly - whose majority is sympathetic to the ruling party - approves two initiatives that the opposition considers undemocratic and in violation of human rights.
In September, the Sandinista Front bank presented the draft Law for the Regulation of Foreign Agents and the Special Law on Cybercrimes.
The first establishes controls over natural or legal persons that receive financing or payment from abroad, and obliges them to register with the Ministry of the Interior and report on their operations.
The second project establishes a prison term of two to four years for those who disseminate false news.
The two initiatives are in the process of consultation in parliamentary committees and could be approved in the coming days.
Nicargua, at a turning point according to MEP
During the parliamentary session, MEP José Ramón Bauzá expressed that Nicaragua is at a turning point.
"It is the path of (electoral) reforms and the commitment to reach free and transparent elections in 2021, or the path that Ortega has followed, which undoubtedly leads to electoral fraud," he explained.
He added that this resolution is a clear message to the high representative of the European Union and the European Council.
«What is required in this resolution?
Two very simple things: the sanctions against Ortega and Murillo and their entire criminal gang, and the activation of the democratic clause in the Association agreement.
The Government of Nicaragua has not officially reacted to this resolution.
CNN requested a comment from the Communication and Citizenship Council, which is coordinated by Vice President Rosario Murillo, but has yet to receive a response.
In May and from Managua, during his virtual participation in a meeting of countries of the Movement of Non-Aligned Countries in response to covid-19, President Ortega called for the suspension of sanctions.
He also asked that the principles of the United Nations be respected.
"That would be enough for the world to begin to change, and we would be in better conditions to then take on the challenges that humanity has, achieve peace and justice for the peoples of the planet," he added.
On July 19, 2019, Ortega promised to promote electoral reforms for the 2021 elections. However, pro-government deputies said in January that the consultations will be made with the parties, not with the opposition.
Reaction of the Civic Alliance for Justice and Democracy
In a statement, the Civic Alliance for Justice and Democracy "accepted and endorsed" the resolution of the European Parliament.
"We endorse the expressions of the European Parliament when it states that these laws, in particular the Foreign Agents Law, will provide the Government of Daniel Ortega with a new repressive instrument to silence not only its critics, but also any person or organization that receives funding foreign, which will increase the number of victims of this repression and will further aggravate the general climate of intimidation and threat, giving rise to unacceptable violations of human rights in Nicaragua ”.
The organization also joined the call of the European Parliament and urged the Nicaraguan government to "stop the criminalization of independent voices, the media, opponents and human rights organizations."
He also requested that the agreements signed with the alliance in March 2019 be fulfilled, which include "the release and restitution of the legal rights of all political prisoners."
Daniel Ortega European Parliament