BILLIONAIRE-backed NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) has come under fire for lobbying the US government to increase sanctions on Latin American countries as they struggle to fight the spread of coronavirus.

Writing for US news website The Grayzone, journalist Ben Norton accused the organisation of “proudly taking credit for crushing new US sanctions on Nicaragua” while pressing for the escalation of “Washington’s economic war on Venezuela.”

HRW Australia development and outreach manager Stephanie McLennan has previously described the new range of sanctions on Nicaragua as “great news.”

She said she was proud of the regime-change-hungry NGO for recommending sanctions against Nicaraguan officials Juan Antonio Valle Valle, Luis Alberto Perez Olivas and Justo Pastor Urbina, alleging that it had uncovered human-rights abuses.

Last month HRW Americas division associate Megan Monteleone wrote that the new punitive sanctions “opened the door for accountability,” despite Nicaragua having taken measures to rebuild peace and stability after the violent coup attempt.

HRW has been described as the “human-rights arm of the US empire” and has consistently supported Washington’s oppression of Latin American countries.

It regurgitated anti-Sandinista propaganda pumped out by opposition groups pressing for the ousting of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega during the 2018 Washington-backed right-wing armed coup attempt.

The so-called human rights NGO is also pressing for increased sanctions against the democratically elected government of Venezuela.

HRW director Kenneth Roth is leading the charge for the US economic war.

The former US government attorney also supported the December 2019 right-wing coup against president Evo Morales in Bolivia that led to a bloodbath against the country’s indigenous people, describing it as “a transitional moment.”

Like many self-styled global human-rights and press-freedom groups, HRW is funded by organisations such as the CIA-linked Freedom House.

HRW was founded during the height of the Cold War as Helsinki Watch, an anti-Soviet lobby group close to the US government.