The US senator warning of a "real" risk of a civil war in Nicaragua

[Juppitèr]

The influential US senator, Marco Rubio, warned today that the risk of a civil war "is real" in Nicaragua and charged against the government of President Daniel Ortega for "having stained his hands with blood" with the violent repression of the protests, that have left about 300 dead.

"The possibility of a civil war in Nicaragua is real," said Rubio, a member of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, in an interview with CNN's State of the Union program.

As a result of this hypothetical escalation in the crisis in Nicaragua, he said, "a migratory crisis could be triggered."

"It would undermine the anti-drug efforts in the region, there is a direct national security interest for the United States in seeing democracy and stability in Nicaragua," added the senator from Florida and former candidate for the Republican presidential nomination.

For this reason, he regretted that Ortega let go of the opportunity to stop the current crisis with democratic concessions to the demands of the Protestants.

"The message to the Nicaragua regime of Ortega was very clear: you call early elections, you allow legitimate elections, and this progresses and everyone is fine, but if you stain your hands with blood, that is no longer possible. hands with blood, "he said.

Rubio said that the US Congress prepares forceful sanctions against the Ortega government and its officials in retaliation for their actions.

The political crisis, which has lasted for more than three months, in the Central American country has left 277 dead and more than 2,000 injured, according to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

The unrest in Nicaragua has been brewing for years with complaints of opposition fraud during the 2008 municipal elections and the last two presidential elections, in 2011 and 2016, in which Ortega ran for re-election, although initially it was prevented by the Constitution.