Ortega sworn in for 4th straight term as Nicaragua's president

BOGOTA, Columbia

After a landslide victory in presidential elections, Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega took the oath of office late Monday to begin his fourth term as president.

The Central American country held presidential elections on Nov. 7 last year in which Ortega's Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) secured at least 74.99% of the votes.

Ortega will be president of the country until 2027.

The oath-taking ceremony in the capital Managua was attended by high-level officials including Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Cuban President Miguel Diaz Canel, and Honduras President Juan Orlando Hernandez, as well as representatives from China, Iran, and Russia.

Earlier, the EU and US imposed sanctions on Nicaragua's government just hours before the president assumed his fourth consecutive term in the office.

The EU sanctioned Ortega's daughter and son are allegedly close to the government, and five other individuals listed as being responsible for "undermining democracy" and “human rights abuses,” according to a European Council statement.

It also sanctioned three other Nicaraguan institutions: the Nicaraguan National Police, the Supreme Electoral Council, and the Nicaraguan Institute of Telecommunications and Postal Services.

Besides, the US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control imposed sanctions on six government officials, including two generals, the defense minister, and officials of the telecommunications regulator.

Nicaragua has been in the grip of a political and social crisis since April 2018, which has been exacerbated by a presidential election that the international community has denounced as neither free nor fair.

*Writing by MerveAydogan