The US has imposed an arms embargo on Nicaragua. Will they have a real impact?

The United States State Department responded this Thursday to the “disintegration” of democracy in Nicaragua and “increased cooperation” in security matters between the Daniel Ortega regime and Russia by imposing restrictions on the import and export of US goods and defense services. Origin with destination or origin in Nicaragua.

According to a press release issued by State Department spokesman Matthew Miller, the State Department has amended the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) to update its defense trade policy toward Nicaragua.

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“The United States is deeply concerned about the continued and brutal repression by the Ortega-Murillo authorities against the people of Nicaragua, including the recent election farce on the Caribbean coast, which is populated primarily by indigenous peoples and people of African descent,” he said.

Increased cooperation with Russia

According to the notification document, the reasons why the Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security decided to impose arms restrictions on Nicaragua were “due to Nicaragua’s continued dismantling of democratic institutions, attacks on civil society, and increased security cooperation with Russia, Ukraine.” to support a large-scale Russian invasion.

He noted that this policy “reflects the US government’s opposition to the arms trade with Nicaragua and its authoritarian government dominated by President Daniel Ortega Saavedra and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo Zambrana.”

With the decision, Nicaragua was added to the list of countries to which the U.S. denies licenses or other approvals for the export and import of defense services and articles, except that “a license or other approval may be issued on a case-by-case basis. The equipment is non-lethal.” Military personnel are intended exclusively for humanitarian assistance, including relief in the event of natural calamities.”

In recent years, the presence of senior Russian security officials in Nicaragua has been significant, as have security cooperation agreements signed. The Secretary of the Russian Security Council, General Nikolai Patrushev, and the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, have arrived in the country. The dictatorship has also sent delegations to Moscow.

Petrushev, considered Putin’s “tough man,” visited Nicaragua on February 26 from Havana, Cuba. On his second day in Managua he held a meeting with Dictator Ortega, Co-Governor Murillo, and other Ortega officials, where, according to official media reports, he pledged support to Latin American countries against the “submission” of the United States. .

At the meeting, the dictatorship signed two agreements with Russia, the first is a cooperation agreement “in the field of training and professional improvement of police activity”, a cooperation protocol between the Nicaraguan police and the Ministry of the Interior. For 2024-2026.

Read here: Ortega meets with Russian Security Council secretary, Putin’s “tough man”. Why is it a cause for concern?

Lavrov arrived in Nicaragua on April 19, 2023 to strengthen bilateral cooperation between their countries. In a meeting with Nicaraguan authorities, Lavrov referred to an agreement for the development of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes that Ortega’s foreign minister, Denis Moncada, had signed on behalf of the dictatorship in Moscow in March of that year.

What effect will it have?

In recent years, there has been increasing cooperation between the Ortega regime and Russia in terms of security. The Nicaraguan Army has purchased many weapons equipment from that country. Therefore, the US sanction is not necessarily a “punishment” for the regime, since they have shown that they do not need US weapons to supply themselves.

Roberto Semken, a retired Major in the Nicaraguan Army, told LA PRENSA that “95 percent of the infantry, tanks, armor, ground artillery, anti-aircraft and aviation weapons are Russian-made. Only the Navy has Western-built ships, which may also be supplied by Russia or China.

He asserted that “the only thing that comes out of the United States is arms and ammunition for civilian use sold in arms stores, all of which are owned by the police and the army.”

In 2016, one of the most significant recent purchases was 50 Russian T 72 tanks, as part of the “modernization plan” and development of the military organization.

Similarly, the Army bought two vessels from a Dutch company in 2019 for patrolling in the Caribbean.

Warning?

Opponent Juan Sebastian Chamorro also said that both the army and the police have not been dependent on US weapons for years, so the approval should not be seen from the point that they will no longer receive such equipment from the US, but rather from the business of the arms market.

“The arms market business is one of the largest in the world and (the approval) gives Nicaragua attention in this important market. So if there are other suppliers that send equipment or supplies to the Nicaraguan army or police, they will notice this ban, especially if these suppliers have trade with the United States,” Camorro said.

New sanctions prohibiting the transfer of arms of American origin to or from Nicaragua. Analysis: pic.twitter.com/JIAQYdF5D5

— Juan Sebastian Camorro (@Jeshamorrogue) March 14, 2024

Semken, for his part, indicated that although the measure may be minimal for the army, “it is probably a wake-up call, a warning that more sanctions may be coming in the future.”

According to the document, the countries that are embargoed are: Afghanistan, Central African Republic, Cyprus, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Haiti,
Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Russia, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Zimbabwe.