Biden signs bill calling for more sanctions, pressure on Nicaragua

FILE PHOTO: A poster promoting Nicaragua President Daniel Ortega as a presidential candidate is displayed on a public bus ahead of the country's presidential elections in November, in Managua, Nicaragua October 14, 2021. REUTERS/Maynor Valenzuela/File Photo

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday signed into law a bill calling for more sanctions and other punitive measures against the government of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, who extended his grip on power in an election that Washington denounced as a sham.

Biden, who has accused Ortega of orchestrating Sunday's vote as a "pantomime election that was neither free nor fair," gave his approval to the bill a week after its final passage by the U.S. Congress with overwhelming bipartisan support.