U.S. Declaration of Nicaragua as a “national security threat” sparks nationalization of fuel firm
Politicians participate in the first session of the 30th Legislature at the Nicaraguan parliament building in Managua, Nicaragua, Jan. 28, 2014. (VOA/Google Images)
Written by: Aidan Jonah
Nicaragua nationalized a major gas station chain on Saturday, in response to a U.S. executive order declaring the country a “national security threat.”
A bill was passed in the Nicaraguan legislature to declare the fuel and other assets of the fuel firm, Empresa Distribuidora de Petroleo, a matter of “citizen security and national interest” and allows the government to manage them.
The Year of American Economic imperialism;
Ever since December 2018, the US government has been ramping up economic sanctions against the socialist Ortega government. Every single member in both chambers of the US Congress approved the NICA Act, an act of economic warfare against Nicaragua. This legislation gave Trump the authority to impose sanctions on Nicaragua while preventing international financial institutions from doing business with Managua.
In September, the Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control announced a “more comprehensive set of regulations,” strengthening the existing sanctions on Nicaragua.
The US Department of the Treasury proceeded to update its Nicaragua-related sanctions section of its website in early November.
These unilateral American sanctions are illegal under international law and are considered an act of war. Iran’s foreign minister, Javad Zarif, characterized US economic warfare “financial terrorism,” in a July interview with the Grayzone, explaining that it disproportionately targets civilians in order to turn them against their government.
Intensifying Sanctions;
To justify the continuation of economic warfare, American President Donald Trump issued an executive order on Nov. 25. In it, Trump referred to Ortega’s democratically elected government as “Ortega’s regime” while falsely claiming that right-wing protestors were violently repressed by police.
On Dec. 12, the U.S. imposed further sanctions on Rafael Ortega, the son of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega. The latest sanctions freeze any U.S. assets of Rafael Ortega and the targeted companies and bar Americans from doing business with them. The targeted companies include DNP, which has been blacklisted to prevent it from completing transactions with oil companies and banks in the United States.