Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega confirmed Friday that U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Senator Marco Rubio – both from Florida – are on an official list of foreigners banned from entering the country in retaliation for travel restrictions placed on Nicaraguan officials by the U.S. government.

“Just like they [U.S. officials] have their lists, we can make our own lists in Latin America of those who shouldn’t enter our country,” Ortega said during a meeting with Venezuelan officials in Nicaragua.

Ortega did not say when the ban went into effect. He said it responded to “a list of Nicaraguan officials who cannot enter the United States.”

“La señora Ileana Ros is on there [the list], and she wanted to enter here [last June]. Her story was that she was going to come to foment democracy in our country, but she was on the list of people who can’t enter and she didn’t…

(Michelle Dunne via Carnegieendowment.org)

Egyptian authorities denied, pursuant to security instructions, U.S. researcher Michelle Dunne entry to Egypt after she arrived at Cairo International Airport. Ms. Dunne is a senior associate in the Middle East program of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and spent 17 years as a specialist in the region for the State Department. According to a report for the New York Times, the Egyptian authorities gave no reason for barring Miss Dunne: “No reason, but, Madame, you cannot access Egypt any more.”

Ms. Dunne is an outspoken critic of the authorities in Egypt after the ousting of ex-president and Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Morsi. However, she stated in a tweet that the purpose of her visit to Cairo was to attend a conference organized by the Egyptian Council for Foreign Affairs (a pro-government organization). Therefore, this restriction barring her from entering Egypt is not just…