Florida Governor Rick Scott, who is currently running for the U.S. Senate, is weighing in on the human rights crisis occurring in Nicaragua, where the Ortega government and state-sponsored armed groups have attacked and killed protesting civilians.
Scott tweeted that the recent Organization of American States was right on the mark with their “condemnation of the Ortega tyranny,” and that world needed to press Ortega to resign from office.
Important condemnation of the Ortega tyranny by the OAS today. The international community needs to demand that Ortega step down so that the violence ends and the Nicaraguan people may live in peace. #SOSNicaragua.
As expected, Ortega scoffed at the OAS resolution, calling those seeking his demise “coup mongers.”
Ortega’s government pushed back against the OAS, calling protesters “terrorist groups” that want to “overthrow a legitimate government.”
"We have working institutions, a rule of law, a Constitution," he said minutes before the vote. "That's why it is not right that this permanent council becomes a sort of court that no one has authorized nor given power to pass judgment on Nicaragua."-Nicaraguan Foreign Minister Denis Moncada
Scott senatorial opponent, incumbent Senator Bill Nelson (D), has also lashed out against the Ortega government, and has filed a bill that imposes sanctions and freezes assets of Nicaraguan officials that are deemed responsible for the atrocities carried out against civilian protestors.