I am very worried by the most recent action taken by the Government of Nicaragua against members of the opposition and the independent media. The arrest of Arturo Cruz, the placing under house arrest of Cristiana Chamorro, who has now also been deprived of her right to stand as a candidate, and the actions targeting her colleagues, as well as the attacks on the independent press, cannot be justified. I wish to remind the Government of Nicaragua of its international obligation to uphold human rights; I call on it to immediately end these repressive measures, return to the path of the rule of law, and re-establish and guarantee the conditions for free, fair and transparent elections in November of this year.