WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden announced on Wednesday the imposition of economic sanctions on members of the military government that seized power in Myanmar, while insisting that the military “must resign.”
Myanmar’s military “must renounce the power taken and show respect for the will of the people, expressed in the elections on November 8,” Biden said in a speech from the White House.
Likewise, the president pointed to the imminent imposition of sanctions this week.
“We will identify a first round of targets this week, and we will also impose strong controls on exports,” added Biden.
Specifically, he reported the $ 1 billion freeze that the Myanmar government has in the United States to prevent it from “being controlled by the generals.”
On February 2, a day after the military coup, the Biden government had already described what happened in Myanmar as a “coup d’etat” and announced that it would restrict the aid directed at the authorities of that country, although maintaining the assistance. humanitarian aid to the population, including that received by the Rohingya minority.
Physical education teacher Khing Hnin Wai posted the video on her Facebook. It is one of the few images of the military coup d’état after the blocking of Facebook and other messaging services.
Since the coup, at least 190 people have been detained and 19 of them were later released, the Association for the Assistance of Political Prisoners (AAPP) in Myanmar reported on Wednesday.
Thousands of people across the country on Tuesday defied the martial law decreed by the military on Monday in various cities and districts of Rangoon, the former capital and most populous city, to demonstrate in rejection of the military government, led by General Min Aung. Hlaing.
In a speech to the nation on Monday night, Min Aung Hlaing alleged massive fraud in the November 8 elections as an argument to justify the seizure of power.
In these elections, where international observers did not detect any rigging, the Aung San Suu Kyi National League for Democracy (NLD) swept away, as it did in 2015, by winning 83% of the seats in the running this time.
Despite the holding of elections and the process started in 2011 in Myanmar towards a “disciplined democracy”, as the army calls it – which ruled the country with an iron fist from 1962 to 2011 – the military command still maintained a broad control over the political and economic aspects of the country.
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