US condemns violence in Nicaragua, revokes visas

By James Blears

Washington announced on Monday it is curtailing and cancelling visas of Nicaraguan officials whom it deems involved in heavy-handed responses to demonstrations there, with the protests now in their third month. 

The White Houses said in a statement: "The US condemns the ongoing violence and human rights abuses committed by the Ortega regime."  Accordingly, US authorities confirm that the visas of Nicaraguan officials linked or connected to the harsh crackdown will be restricted, or entirely revoked.

Aware of increasing international alarm and categorical rejection of his security forces' response to protesters, President Daniel Ortega says he wants to revive and revamp peace talks with the opposition.

He says he's been in direct contact with an array of human rights groups, the Secretary General of the United Nations, and Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes, Archbishop of Managua.

President Ortega is also accusing the opposition of falsifying facts.

He and his wife Rosario Murillo, who is the Vice President, refuse to resign in order for elections to take place. He ruled Nicaragua from 1979-1990, and from 2007 until today.

These protests, which started over reduced pension payments, have claimed more than three hundred lives.