NICARAGUAN President Daniel Ortega warned a mass pro-government rally in Managua on Saturday that US-imposed sanctions would bring poverty to the country.

He told the thousands gathered that a Bill being discussed by the US Congress would bring economic chaos to Nicaragua; he has previously accused the Trump administration of “laying the groundwork for insurrection.”

But he struck a defiant tone as he addressed the crowds, warning Washington that attacks on Nicaragua would not be tolerated.

“They think that with it, the Nicaraguan people are going to get down on their knees, and they do not realise that this is a town that does not sell or surrender,” Mr Ortega said.

Thousands braved the rain to attend the peace rally in the Nicaraguan capital, where the Sandinista leader slammed the plans by the US to impose the Nicaragua Investment Conditionality Act (Nica), which will be discussed again by the US Congress.

If approved by the Senate and signed off by President Donald Trump, it will mean that the US will use its influence in international lending institutions to block all loans to Nicaragua from the World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank and other institutions.

Running at US$250 million (£192m) annually, the loans are invested in education, social programmes, electrification, roads and other infrastructure initiatives.

The US has been accused of supporting  armed right-wing militias which attempted to bring down the Sandinista government after hijacking protests over social reforms in April.

In the summer the US Congress-backed National Endowment for Democracy announced additional funding for opposition groups and media organisations in Nicaragua.

Mr Ortega has consistently warned against attempts at undermining Nicaraguan sovereignty and accused the US of being behind a “soft coup” against his leadership.

“I say to the US congress-people and senators who are voting in favour of this interventionist law that what they are coming to is simply to harm the country’s economy,” Mr Ortega told the rally.

He warned of “a division in the planet” where on one side “wealth is concentrated in few hands and on the other, poverty and misery.”

“That has been the practice throughout history, of the oldest empires, always seeking to dominate more peoples to have greater wealth under their control and have military strength and economic strength to confront other empires,” he said.