109 HCON 252 IH: Expressing the sense of Congress that the Government of the United States should actively support the aspirations of the democratic political and social forces in the Republic of Nicaragua toward an immediate and full restoration of functioning democracy in that country. U.S. House of Representatives 2005-09-27 text/xml EN Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.

IV 109th CONGRESS 1st Session H. CON. RES. 252 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES September 27, 2005 Mr. Burton of Indiana (for himself, Mr. Menendez, Ms. Harris, Mr. Weller, Ms. Ros-Lehtinen, Mr. Mack, and Mr. Rohrabacher) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on International Relations CONCURRENT RESOLUTION Expressing the sense of Congress that the Government of the United States should actively support the aspirations of the democratic political and social forces in the Republic of Nicaragua toward an immediate and full restoration of functioning democracy in that country.

Whereas the United States is strongly committed to promoting freedom, democracy, and the rule of law; Whereas the Charter of the Organization of American States, of which the United States and Nicaragua are Member States, stipulates that [t]he peoples of the Americas have a right to democracy and their governments have an obligation to promote and defend it; Whereas after experiencing a quarter century ago a revolution, loss of personal liberties, destruction of property, and economic instability, the people of Nicaragua are building a democratic form of government; Whereas jailed ex-President Arnoldo Aleman and Sandinista Liberation Front (FSLN) leader Daniel Ortega have entered into an agreement widely known throughout Nicaragua as the Pact, to control the National Assembly in order to exploit its legislative powers to undermine the Nicaraguan Constitution, the Presidency of Enrique Bolanos, and all institutions of representative democratic governance; Whereas Pactist politicians currently control and dominate the Supreme Court, the Electoral Council, the Comptroller’s office, and the Human Rights ombudsman’s office; and Whereas polls indicate that an overwhelming percentage of Nicaraguans oppose the Aleman-Ortega Pact, and tens of thousands of Nicaraguans took to the streets in the past year to call for an end to the Pact: Now, therefore, be it

That— (1)Congress— (A)strongly condemns the Aleman-Ortega Pact as detrimental to democracy in the Republic of Nicaragua, the future of democracy in Nicaragua, and the stability of the entire region; (B)strongly condemns constitutional reforms passed by the Pact-controlled National Assembly that stripped important executive branch authorities from the Nicaraguan presidency; (C)strongly condemns the Pact-controlled National Assembly’s actions to stack the Nicaraguan Supreme Court with Pact loyalists, some of whom have had their United States visas revoked on the ground of corruption; (D)strongly condemns the Pact-controlled National Assembly’s efforts to remove democratically-elected President Enrique Bolanos on dubious legal grounds; (E)strongly condemns the Pact-controlled National Assembly’s attempts to remove from office senior officials of the executive branch on dubious legal grounds; and (F)supports the efforts of Nicaraguan democratic civil society to create the necessary conditions for free and fair elections; and (2)it is the sense of Congress that— (A)it should be the policy of the United States to actively support the aspirations of the democratic political forces in Nicaragua for a full restoration of democracy and the rule of law in Nicaragua, headed by leaders who are committed to democracy and who deserve the trust of the Nicaraguan people; (B)it should be the policy of the United States to work with the international community, including the Organization of American States, to assist democratic forces in Nicaragua to restore full democracy to their country; (C)it should be the policy of the United States to oppose all political elements that continue to subvert Nicaraguan democracy; (D)it is critical that the 2006 elections in Nicaragua are free and fair and provide the winner of the election a clear mandate to govern the country; and (E)the President of the United States, acting through the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development, should provide assistance grants to nongovernmental organizations in support of President Bolanos’ call for the international community to assist in and monitor the 2006 election process in order to ensure the integrity of the process.