Nicaraguan dictator Daniel Ortega is jailing, killing and disappearing his political opponents. He has taken control of the Supreme Court and the electoral council and has gagged the press by making it a crime to report “false news.” As he “runs” for a fourth term in November, his most serious rivals are under arrest.
Mr. Ortega’s Nicaragua is a police state. For advocates of peace and freedom, this makes him persona non grata. At the International Monetary Fund, he’s a valued member.
So too are the governments of socialist, deadbeat Argentina and of El Salvador, which every day slips further into arbitrary, authoritarian rule.
These are some of the bad actors in the Western Hemisphere who received more “special drawing rights” from the IMF on Aug. 23 as part of a new $650 billion general allocation. They don’t play by the rules of the international community, but suddenly hundreds of millions of dollars at rock-bottom rates are falling into their coffers.