Uncertainty in Nicaragua
The current President of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega, is taking steps to ensure that he will win the elections in November again. The New York Times writes that there is no “credible challenger” and that Ortega is “turning Nicaragua into a police state.” Seven candidates have been jailed or put under house arrest since June alone and people from all backgrounds — from millionaire banker to a decorated general to a low-profile provincial activist — have been targeted.
Other News
- The U.S. remembered the 9/11 attacks that happened 20 years ago.
- Maria Kolesnikova, a Belarusian opposition figure, was sentenced to 11 years in prison during a trial in Minsk last week
- In a ruling last week, Mexico’s Supreme Court decided that making abortion a crime was “unconstitutional”. Nonetheless, abortion is still not available to most of the Mexican female population.
- El Salvador adopted Bitcoin as a legal tender, the first country to do so
- The Taliban named an acting cabinet last week. However, the lack of women and some former leaders from the Taliban’s 1990s regime have raised alarm bells in other countries.