CV NEWS FEED // Two U.S. lawmakers introduced a bill Tuesday to combat Nicaraguan Dictator Daniel Ortega’s ongoing persecution of the Catholic Church through imposing economic sanctions.
Reps. Chris Smith (R-NJ) and María Elvira Salazar (R-FL) introduced the legislation in hopes that the sanctions will help restore human rights and religious freedom in Nicaragua.
“The United States needs to step up and act quickly to implement all the tools at our disposal to bring an end to Ortega’s horrific abuses against innocent people of faith and political prisoners in Nicaragua,” Smith stated in a press release.
CatholicVote reported in early January that several priests have been arrested under Ortega’s dictatorship, while Bishop Rolando Álvarez has spent over 500 days in prison. Lay people, seminarians, and other religious members have experienced hostility, and many churches and shrines have been desecrated.
Salazar said that Ortega’s dictatorship has robbed Nicaraguans of their human rights.
“The satanic regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo has stolen all humanity in Nicaragua,” she stated in a press release. “They’ve committed daily human rights violations, forced thousands of Nicaraguans into exile, and have cracked down on anyone who opposes them,”
“I am proud to co-lead a bill that would protect human rights in the country and re-impose sanction on the satanic Ortega/Murillo regime,” she continued.
According to the press release, the bill will impose several targeted sanctions on areas of the Nicaraguan economy that generate revenue for the Ortega family. The bill will also prohibit new U.S. investments in Nicaragua, review Nicaragua’s participation in a fair-trade agreement between the U.S. and several other countries, require the Biden Administration “to implement a coordinated diplomatic strategy to restrict investments and loans” that benefit Ortega, and renew two U.S. acts attempting to protect human rights in Nicaragua.
“We must stand with those enduring unspeakable suffering at the hands of the brutal Ortega-Murillo regime,” Smith stated. “Injustice need not be forever.”
