Billionaire-backed Human Rights Watch lobbies for lethal US sanctions on leftist governments as COVID-19 crisis rages
Regime change-hungry HRW is proudly taking credit for crushing new US sanctions on Nicaragua while pushing to escalate Washington’s economic war on Venezuela. The Grayzone presents a deep dive into the “human rights” arm of US empire.
by Ben Norton
Part 5 - HRW lobbies for more civilian-killing sanctions on Nicaragua (and Venezuela)
This was far from the first time Human Rights Watch clamored for sanctions on Nicaragua. In fact, the “rights” group has actively lobbied on behalf of the country’s tiny right-wing opposition.
HRW Americas division director José Miguel Vivanco has shown a blatant bias against left-wing countries in the region, along with an obsession with undercutting Nicaragua’s Sandinista government.
In June 2019, Vivanco testified before the US Congress, lobbying the legislative body “to impose targeted sanctions —including asset freezes— against senior Nicaraguan officials.”
In its official press release on the congressional testimony, HRW stated clearly, “The United States Congress should press the executive branch to impose targeted sanctions, including travel bans and asset freezes, against senior Nicaraguan government officials.”
HRW made no mention whatsoever of the extreme violence carried out by the Nicaraguan right-wing opposition in its coup attempt, blaming all of the deaths and injuries on the government instead.
The so-called rights organization also praised the Trump administration’s previous imposition of sanctions on Nicaragua, declaring in its press release, “Human Rights Watch supports the successful application of the Global Magnitsky Act in July and December 2018, when the US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on five Nicaraguans implicated in human rights abuses and corruption.”
HRW went a step further and urged US members of Congress to meet with their leaders of Nicaragua’s US-backed opposition: “Human Rights Watch also recommended that the US Congress: … Meet regularly with human rights defenders, activists, journalists, and the opposition from Nicaragua who come to Washington to maintain balance in its understanding of the situation in Nicaragua,” the group stated.
Just a week after the congressional testimony, Human Rights Watch and Vivanco revived their calls for the Trump administration to impose sanctions on Nicaragua in a report titled “Crackdown in Nicaragua: Torture, Ill-Treatment, and Prosecutions of Protesters and Opponents.” The paper completely whitewashed the coup attempt, uncritically echoing the dubious and rumors narratives of the right-wing opposition.
In a new press release accompanying this report, HRW expanded its call for sanctions not just from the US government, but also from other governments in Europe and Latin America.
“Governments in the Americas and Europe should impose targeted sanctions against top Nicaraguan authorities,” HRW wrote.
This “rights” organization provided a list of Nicaraguan government officials who “should be subjected to targeted sanctions, such as travel bans and assets freezes,” including President Daniel Ortega and numerous top police and security officials. Most of these Nicaraguan officials had or have subsequently been sanctioned by the US government.
In both English and Spanish, Vivanco amplified this demand for more economic war.
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