Nicaragua

MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP) — Nicaragua police announced late Monday they had placed former first lady María Fernanda Flores Lanzas, wife of ex-President Arnoldo Aleman, under house arrest for alleged crimes against the state.

There was no mention of Aleman or his whereabouts. The police statement said she would remain under guard while the allegations against her were investigated.

MANAHUA (Nicaragua), Dec 7 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Authorities in Nicaragua called off the search for people trapped in the collapse of an unlicensed gold mine in the country’s south.

Two bodies had already been pulled from the debris, and up to 16 others had reportedly been trapped after the accident in the La Esperanza region, more than 200km southeast of the capital Managua.

The two victims, identified as Israel Sequeira and Santos Herrera, were from the Rio San Juan department, local government official Johnny Gutierrez told official website 19 Digital.

MANAGUA, Nov 24 (NNN-Xinhua) — A passenger truck plunged off a road in Nicaragua’s Montanita area about 15 km from the Waslala urban area on Monday, killing at least 17 people and injuring 25 more, police said.

According to media reports, the dead included 12 females and 5 males.

Waslala Mayor German Vargas told a government radio station that the accident was due to brake failure.

The total number of passengers on the truck remained unclear.

MACIZO DE PEÑAS BLANCAS, Nicaragua (AP) — The devastation caused by Hurricane Iota became clearer Wednesday as images emerged showing piles of wind-tossed lumber that used to be homes and concrete walls that were pounded into pieces by the second Category 4 storm to blast Nicaragua’s Caribbean coast in two weeks.

Nicaragua Vice President and first lady Rosario Murillo on Wednesday raised the nation’s death toll to 16. The victims were spread across the country, swept away by swollen rivers or buried in landslides.

MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP) — In a one-two punch, Hurricane Iota roared ashore as a dangerous Category 4 storm along almost exactly the same stretch of Nicaragua’s Caribbean coast that was devastated by an equally powerful Hurricane Eta 13 days earlier.

MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP) — Hurricane Eta continues to spin across northern Nicaragua after lashing the country’s Caribbean coast for much of Tuesday, isolating already remote communities and setting off deadly landslides in two countries that killed at least three people.

The storm had weakened by late Tuesday, but was moving so slowly and dumping so much rain that much of Central America was on high alert.

MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP) — Dangerously powerful Hurricane Eta churned toward Nicaragua’s Caribbean coast with potentially devastating winds, while heavy rains thrown off by its storm bands already were causing rivers to overflow across Central America.

MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP) — International health officials are warning that the Nicaraguan government’s perplexing weekslong refusal to take measures to control the spread of the new coronavirus is heightening the risk of an epidemic in Central America even as neighboring countries take tough action.

President Daniel Ortega’s government urged Nicaraguans to party during Carnival celebrations, and it has said they should keep attending sports events and cultural festivals, and pack the country’s beaches during Holy Week vacations this week.

MANAGUA, July 31 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Former Salvadoran president Mauricio Funes has been granted Nicaraguan citizenship, according to a decree published on Tuesday in the Nicaraguan government registry.

Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, who began his term in June, vowed to bring Funes back to the country within his first 90 days in office. Bukele’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Funes, who governed El Salvador between 2009 and 2014, is accused of embezzlement and money laundering involving $351 million, Salvadoran prosecutors have said.

22 June 2019; AFP: The United States and Canada on Friday slapped new sanctions on Nicaraguan officials close to President Daniel Ortega, saying they persecuted dissidents and the press, enacted repressive laws, and denied people medical care.

The punishments freeze any assets these officials have in both countries and bar them from the international monetary system.