Exclusive-U.S. to announce new Nicaragua sanctions 'very soon,' official says

FILE PHOTO: A woman watches a televised speech by Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega during an event where he agreed with his Honduran counterpart Juan Orlando Hernandez to define their borders in the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean, including the Gulf of Fonseca, which they share with El Salvador, in Managua, Nicaragua October 27, 2021. REUTERS/Maynor Valenzuela/File Photo

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Biden administration plans to announce new U.S. sanctions and other punitive actions "very soon" in response to Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega's re-election in a vote that Washington has denounced as a sham, a senior State Department official told Reuters on Tuesday.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the measures would be the first in a series of steps that the U.S. government will "ramp up over time."