Republican Rep María Elvira Salazar declares, 'After Cuba, Nicaragua is next'
Republican Rep. María Elvira Salazar of Florida stated in a Monday social media post that "After Cuba, Nicaragua is next."
The Central American nation's president, Daniel Ortega, said on Sunday, "There won't be any more elections here for them to try to seize the government and seize power," according to Reuters. "The days when parties backed by the Yankees (United States) and the Somocistas would return to power are over - never again," he said, according to the outlet.
In her Monday post on X, Salazar said, "Daniel Ortega just announced that Nicaragua will no longer hold elections. When a communist dictator knows the people would vote him out, he takes away their vote. Repression, fear, and force become the only way to stay in power. The Ortega-Murillo regime has declared war on the Nicaraguan people’s right to choose their own future."
Ortega's wife Rosario Murillo is co-president, reports indicate.
"The United States must stand unequivocally with the people of Nicaragua, increase the pressure on this despicable regime, and ensure that those responsible for its crimes are held accountable. After Cuba, Nicaragua is next," Salazar added in the post.
NICARAGUA'S ORTEGA SAYS COUNTRY WILL ‘NEVER AGAIN’ HOLD ELECTIONS, SHUTTING OUT OPPOSITION
The U.S. snatched Venezuela's Nicolás Maduro and his wife out of Venezuela and transported them back to the U.S. earlier this year.
The U.S. later launched a war against the Islamic Republic of Iran in conjunction with Israel.
And then, during a speech in March, President Donald Trump said, "Cuba's next."
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Fox News Digital reached out to Salazar's office on Tuesday to ask more about her comment suggesting that "After Cuba, Nicaragua is next."
The congresswoman said in a Tuesday post on X, "One by one, the dictators of the last era are answering for their crimes. Maduro sleeps in a cell in New York. The Ayatollah is dead. Raúl Castro is under indictment. Daniel Ortega, whose regime killed more than 300 peaceful protesters in 2018, jailed opposition candidates before elections, exiled priests, stripped hundreds of Nicaraguans of their citizenship, and has now abolished elections altogether, still sits in Managua. Communist dictators don't fear losing elections. They fear having them. His day will come."
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a Tuesday statement, "Daniel Ortega’s declaration that under his family’s dictatorship Nicaragua will never again hold elections lays bare their true authoritarian nature. Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo have abandoned even the pretense of popular consent.
"The Nicaraguan people have the right to choose their own leaders through democratic elections. The United States calls on the international community to join forces to demonstrate to the Murillo-Ortega dictatorship that it cannot expect to maintain business as usual with other nations when it is thwarting the basic tenets of our democratic hemisphere," Rubio asserted.