
Nicaragua's democracy is crumbling. It's been a long time coming
CNN
Nicaragua's already fragile democracy is quickly backsliding into a dictatorship.
President Daniel Ortega has spent the last week using the undisputed power of the country's police and courts to crack down on his political opposition with brutal efficiency. At least 13 opposition leaders have been arrested and charged with vague, so-called "national security" violations, which human rights groups say is a clear sign that the country's strong-man leader is doing his best to eliminate dissent and crush any competition ahead of upcoming general elections on November 7, a vote where he hopes to secure his fourth consecutive term as president.
Nationwide outcry over the killing of a Minneapolis woman by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent spilled into the streets of cities across the US on Saturday, with protesters demanding the removal of federal immigration authorities from their communities and justice for the slain Renee Good.

Since early December the US Coast Guard and other military branches have boarded and taken control of five oil ships that had previously been sanctioned, all either accused of being in the process of transporting Venezuelan oil or on their way to take on oil that has been subject to US sanctions since President Donald Trump began a pressure campaign against the leadership of the country during his first term.

A federal judge on Friday blocked President Donald Trump’s administration from enforcing most of his executive order on elections against the vote-by-mail states Washington and Oregon, in the latest blow to Trump’s efforts to require documentary proof of citizenship to vote and to require that all ballots be received by Election Day.










