United States embargo against Nicaragua
{{see also|Latin American debt crisis|La Década Perdida}}
File:Nicaragua inflation rate 1980-1993.webp
The United States embargo against Nicaragua was declared by then-U.S. President Ronald Reagan on May 1, 1985, and prohibited all trade between the U.S. and Nicaragua. In a strategy similar to the embargo against Cuba, it was intended to undermine the Sandinista government which came to power in 1979. Returned in 2018.
Embargo
The embargo both forbade American products from entering Nicaragua (with exceptions for medicine and other humanitarian goods) and Nicaraguan products from entering the United States.{{cite news|last=Kinzer|first=Stephen|title=Anti-Sandinistas Say U.S. Should End Embargo|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/01/12/world/anti-sandinistas-say-us-should-end-embargo.html|work=New York Times|date=12 January 1989 |access-date=26 February 2013}} It further banned all Nicaraguan ships from landing in any U.S. port or planes from landing on U.S. soil. {{citation needed|date=February 2013}}
Ronald Reagan, on the day he declared the embargo, stated: "I, Ronald Reagan, President of the United States of America, find that the policies and actions of the Government of Nicaragua constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States and hereby declare a national emergency to deal with that threat."{{cite news | title=US Policy: Economic Embargo: The War Goes On | url =http://www.envio.org.ni/articulo/2695 | work =Revista Envío | access-date = 2007-12-25 }} Reagan made four demands against Nicaragua during his embargo announcement:
- To "halt its export of armed insurrection, terrorism, and subversion in neighboring countries."
- To end its military ties to Cuba and the Soviet Union
- To cease its "massive arms buildup"
- To adhere, in law and practice, to democratic principles and "observance of full political and human rights."{{cite news | title=Embargo Politics | url =http://multinationalmonitor.org/hyper/issues/1989/12/editorial.html | work =The Multinational Monitor | access-date = 2007-12-25 }}
Violations of international law
{{Main|Nicaragua v. United States}}
In 1986 the embargo was found to be in violation of the Treaty of Friendship, Commerce, and Navigation between the United States and Nicaragua but not of the international law obligation of non-intervention by the International Court of Justice. The court's ruling states that the embargo was "in breach of obligations under Article XIX of the Treaty of Friendship, Commerce and Navigation between the Parties signed at Managua on 21 January 1956", but that it was "unable to regard such action in the present case as a breach of the customary law principle of non-intervention".{{cite web
| title = Summary of the Judgment of 27 June 1986
| work = International Court of Justice
| url = http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/index.php?sum=367&code=nus&p1=3&p2=3&case=70&k=66&p3=5
| access-date=2023-04-05
}} This Treaty states that "neither party shall impose restrictions or prohibitions on the importation of any product of the other party, or on the exportation of any product to the territories of the other party." Further, by laying mines in Nicaraguan waters to enforce the embargo, the United States of America also violated "its obligations under customary international law not to use force against another State". The United States was therefore obligated "to cease and to refrain from all such acts" and pay an unspecified amount in reparations to Nicaragua. However, the United States continued the embargo nearly 4 years after the ruling, and did not pay reparations.{{cite web|last=Castillo|first=Mariano|title=Nicaragua may revive $17 billion claim against U.S.|url=http://articles.cnn.com/2011-07-21/world/nicaragua.us.claim_1_nicaraguan-president-daniel-ortega-president-violeta-chamorro-international-court?_s=PM:WORLD|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110724020233/http://articles.cnn.com/2011-07-21/world/nicaragua.us.claim_1_nicaraguan-president-daniel-ortega-president-violeta-chamorro-international-court?_s=PM:WORLD|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 24, 2011|work=CNN|access-date=26 February 2013}}
Embargo extension
The embargo was extended for six months by George H. W. Bush on November 1, 1989. He later lifted the embargo after five months in March 1990.{{cite book |author1=Holiday, David |author2=Arnson, Cynthia |title=Fitful Peace: Human Rights and Reconciliation in Nicaragua Under the Chamorro Government (An Americas Watch Report) |year=1991 |publisher=Human Rights Watch |location=New York |pages=51–54 |isbn=1-56432-034-0}} Currently was reimposed in 2018. Sanctioning the pro-Sandinista regime with the gold sector in 2022 and arms embargo in March 2024.{{cite web | url=https://www.telemundo51.com/noticias/centroamerica/ap-eeuu-endurece-sanciones-contra-nicaragua/2358965/ | title=Duras sanciones de EEUU a Nicaragua: Retiro de visas y embargo a la industria del oro | date=24 October 2022 }}{{cite web | url=https://www.diariolasamericas.com/america-latina/eeuu-impone-un-embargo-armas-nicaragua-la-brutal-represion-n5353202 | title=EEUU impone un embargo de armas a Nicaragua por la "brutal represión" | date=14 March 2024 }}
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Nicaragua topics|state=uncollapsed}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:United States Embargo Against Nicaragua}}
Category:History of the foreign relations of the United States
Category:Economic history of Nicaragua
Category:Nicaragua–United States relations