Bruno Gallardo will be Nicaragua’s new Minister of Finance, replacing Iván Acosta, who was sanctioned by the United States in 2020, the nation’s official bulletin showed on Thursday.
Gallardo, a 79-year-old former union leader, previously served as deputy finance minister and had been signing credit agreements with international organizations since Acosta was sanctioned.
Acosta had held his position since 2012. He was sanctioned by the US Treasury for financially supporting the administration of President Daniel Ortega and for, according to the Washington, threatening banks not to participate in a strike organized by the opposition to free to political prisoners in 2019.
Local media Confidential and The Press They had reported in recent days that Acosta’s home had been raided by police, suggesting he may have fallen out of favor with the president.
The government waged a bloody crackdown on anti-government protests in 2018, during which more than 360 people were killed mostly by police and other security forces, according to counts by rights groups.
Since then, dissidents from broad sections of society, including journalists and religious figures, have been imprisoned.
In 2021, Washington imposed sanctions and denounced Ortega’s reelection as a “farce” after all of his main opponents were detained and detained by police in the months before the vote.
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