US says it will use regional body to isolate Nicaragua

What the report says

The United States says it will use the Organization of American States to help isolate Nicaragua after lawmakers in Managua approved constitutional changes that further restrict political competition. According to Al Jazeera, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington would press governments in the hemisphere to stop treating Nicaragua as usual and argued that President Daniel Ortega and co-President Rosario Murillo are undermining democracy and regional stability.

The move follows a reform package passed by Nicaragua’s legislature on Tuesday that, as described in the report, bars most opposition forces from participating in elections and extends the presidential term from six years to seven. The proposal had already drawn criticism from the United States and other regional governments. The Nicaraguan government has framed the changes as part of its effort to block opponents it labels traitors or coup plotters.

Al Jazeera reported that the OAS had already scheduled a meeting on Nicaragua last month, calling the situation an urgent matter of shared concern. Nicaragua withdrew from the body in 2022, with the exit taking full effect in 2023, after repeated criticism over human rights and democratic backsliding. The dispute matters because it raises the possibility of wider diplomatic pressure on Managua at a time when Ortega, one of Latin America’s longest-serving leaders, continues to tighten control over the political system.