    [House Hearing, 118 Congress]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]

                      THE ORTEGA-MURILLO REGIMES WAR AGAINST
                      THE CATHOLIC CHURCH AND CIVIL SOCIETY
                      IN NICARAGUA: BISHOP ALVAREZ, POLITICAL
                      PRISONERS, AND PRISONERS OF CONSCIENCE

    =======================================================================

                                    HEARING

                                   BEFORE THE

                       SUBCOMMITTE ON GLOBAL HEALTH, GLOBAL
                  HUMAN RIGHTS AND INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

                                       of

                          COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS
                            HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                        ONE HUNDRED EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS

                                 FIRST SESSION
                                 March 22, 2023

                                   __________

                                Serial No. 118-5

                                   __________

            Printed for the use of the Committee on Foreign Affairs

                     [GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

     Available:  http://www.foreignaffairs.house.gov/, http://docs.house.gov,
                           or http://www.govinfo.gov

                                   ______

                     U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE

    53-190PDF                 WASHINGTON : 2024

                          COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS

                       MICHAEL T. McCAUL, Texas, Chairman

    CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey     GREGORY MEEKS, New York, Ranking
    JOE WILSON, South Carolina               Member
    SCOTT PERRY, Pennsylvania	     BRAD SHERMAN, California
    DARRELL ISSA, California	     GERALD E. CONNOLLY, Virginia
    ANN WAGNER, Missouri		     WILLIAM KEATING, Massachusetts
    BRIAN MAST, Florida		     DAVID CICILLINE, Rhode Island
    KEN BUCK, Colorado		     AMI BERA, California
    TIM BURCHETT, Tennessee		     JOAQUIN CASTRO, Texas
    MARK E. GREEN, Tennessee	     DINA TITUS, Nevada
    ANDY BARR, Kentucky		     TED LIEU, California
    RONNY JACKSON, Texas		     SUSAN WILD, Pennsylvania
    YOUNG KIM, California		     DEAN PHILLIPS, Minnesota
    MARIA ELVIRA SALAZAR, Florida	     COLIN ALLRED, Texas
    BILL HUIZENGA, Michigan		     ANDY KIM, New Jersey
    AUMUA AMATA COLEMAN RADEWAGEN, 	     SARA JACOBS, California
        American Samoa		     KATHY MANNING, North Carolina
    FRENCH HILL, Arkansas		     SHEILA CHERFILUS-McCORMICK,
    WARREN DAVIDSON, Ohio		         Florida
    JIM BAIRD, Indiana		     GREG STANTON, Arizona
    MICHAEL WALTZ, Florida		     MADELEINE DEAN, Pennsylvania
    THOMAS KEAN, JR., New Jersey	     JARED MOSKOWITZ, Florida
    MICHAEL LAWLER, New York	     JONATHAN JACOBS, Illinois
    CORY MILLS, Florida		     SYDNEY KAMLAGER-DOVE, California
    RICH McCORMICK, Georgia		     JIM COSTA, California
    NATHANIEL MORAN, Texas		     JASON CROW, Colorado
    JOHN JAMES, Michigan		     BRAD SCHNEIDER, Illinois
    KEITH SELF, Texas

                        Brendan Shields, Staff Director

                        Sophia Lafargue, Staff Director

                                     ------

     Subcommittee on Global Health, Global Human Rights and International
                                 Organizations

                      CHRISTOPHER SMITH, New Jersey, Chair

    MARIA ELVIRA SALAZAR, Florida	     SUSAN WILD, Pennsylvania, Ranking
    AUMUA AMATA COLEMAN RADEWAGEN, 	         Member
        American Samoa
    FRENCH HILL, Arkansas		     AMI BERA, California
    RICH McCORMICK, Georgia		     SARA JACOBS, California
    JOHN JAMES, Michigan		     KATHY MANNING, North Carolina

                           Mary Vigil, Staff Director
                          Allie Davis, Staff Director

                                C O N T E N T S

                                  ----------
                                                                       Page

                                   WITNESSES

    Jagger, Bianca. Founder, President, and Chief Executive, Bianca
      Jagger Human Rights Foundation.................................    14
    Maradiaga, Felix, J.D., President and Founder, Fundacion Para La
      Libertad De Nicaragua..........................................    24
    Chamorro, Dr. Juan Sebastian, Executive Director, Civic Alliance
      for Justice and Democracy......................................    31
    Ullmer, Deborah, Regional Director for Latin America and the
      Caribbean Programs, National Democratic Institute..............    36

                                    APPENDIX

    Hearing Notice...................................................    63
    Hearing Minutes..................................................    65
    Hearing Attendance...............................................    66

                RESPONSES TO QUESTIONS SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD

    Responses to questios submitted for the record...................    67

                      THE ORTEGA-MURILLO REGIMES WAR AGAINST
                      THE CATHOLIC CHURCH AND CIVIL SOCIETY
                      IN NICARAGUA: BISHOP ALVAREZ, POLITICAL
                      PRISONERS, AND PRISONERS OF CONSCIENCE

                           Wednesday, March 22, 2023

                              House of Representatives,
    Subcommittee on Global Health, Global Human Rights,
            and International Organizations, joint with
                    Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere,
                          Committee on Foreign Affairs,
                                                        Washington, DC.

        The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 4:00 p.m., in
    room 2200, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Christopher H.
    Smith (chairman of the Subcommittee on Global Health, Global
    Human Rights, and International Organizations) presiding.
        Mr. Smith. The subcommittees will come to order.
        And, first of all, let me welcome everyone to the joint
    hearing. I am joined by my good friend and colleague, Ms.
    Salazar, who is the chairwoman of the Western Hemisphere
    Committee, as well as Ms. Wild, who is the ranking member on my
    committee, the Global Health, Global Human Rights, and
    International Organizations Subcommittee.
        And, Mr. Stanton, I think you will be filling in, I think.
        Mr. Stanton. I am acting today.
        Mr. Smith. Acting. That is very good. We are all acting.
        But thank you so much for joining us, and all of my
    colleagues who are here today and, of course, our incredibly
    distinguished witnesses, at today's hearing.
        I want to convey my deepest thanks to Bianca Jagger, who is
    going to be joining us in a moment--she is an amazing human
    rights champion--and, once again, for her continued tenacious
    advocacy on behalf of the Nicaraguan people, including
    Archbishop Alvarez and other political prisoners.
        Is the United States doing enough? Are we doing enough in
    Congress? Is the President doing enough? Frankly, I am
    concerned.
        Yesterday, Owen Jensen, an EWTN correspondent, asked
    National Security Council spokesman John Kirby--and this is
    what his question was--Nicaragua is my question, OK. So you may
    know that Daniel Ortega recently threw into prison Bishop
    Alvarez, well-known, well-respected bishop throughout the
    world. He was thrown into prison for 26 years on trumped up
    charges.
        The question: Are you aware of any efforts the United
    States is making to free Bishop Alvarez?
        The National Security spokesman John Kirby responded: I am
    going to have to take the question and get back to you, sir. I
    am not tracking that particular case.
        We all need to up our game. We all need to do more, and we
    need to do it immediately.
        For the record, as co-chair of the Tom Lantos Human Rights
    Commission, I convened a hearing on religious persecution as
    recently as December 22--December 2022, I should say, and then
    held another hearing focused on Nicaraguan political prisoners
    back in July 2021.
        With great courage, eloquence, and resolve, Berta and
    Victoria, or Vicky, testified at the 2021 hearing about their
    suffering husbands, Felix Maradiaga and Juan Sebastian
    Chamorro, and other political prisoners, that they were
    enduring at the hands of Ortega. Berta told us that it was very
    clear that Daniel Ortega will do anything he can to maintain
    his grip on power. By arresting the leading Presidential
    candidates and dozens of other critics, Ortega has shown the
    world that he cannot win reelection if the opposition is
    allowed to participate.
        The oppression is not news, she went on. For years, Felix
    has been the target of attacks by the Ortega regime because he
    speaks truth to power. He has been beaten, confined to house
    arrest, and threatened for months. He endured 24/7 surveillance
    by the police, she went on. Then again and again they tried to
    silence him, but he would never stand down.
        Vicky then testified and said, since Juan's arrest, the
    Ortega regime has systematically violated all of his rights. We
    identified at least 10 violations of international law in their
    cases. Ortega has completely eliminated any due process rights
    and manipulated Nicaragua's justice system to maintain his grip
    on power.
        Vicky then went on to say: Juan has always fought for
    Nicaragua. He has always wanted to be involved in improving his
    country, contributing to its economic and social development,
    so that all Nicaraguans can live prosperous and peaceful lives
    in dignity.
        My husband, she went on, is a peaceful and honest man, but
    Daniel Ortega feels threatened by him because he dares to speak
    out against the regime's oppression.
        Thankfully, Felix and Juan Sebastian were among the 222
    political prisoners that arrived in the United States on
    February 9 of this year. However, in clear violation of article
    15 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, they were
    stripped of their citizenship. Another 94 dissidents were also
    stripped of their Nicaraguan nationality. And today, at least
    37 political prisoners continue to be unjustly incarcerated and
    grossly mistreated.
        It is especially meaningful that these two men, these two
    giants, these two heroes, are here and will speak to us and
    that they are finally free.
        However, they, like other amazing pro-democracy leaders,
    yearn for the day when Nicaragua will be free and its
    government robustly defending the fundamental rights, human
    rights of every citizen.
        So today, again, we will hear from them directly, and my
    hope is that their words spoken today animates, gets every one
    of us to be more motivated to do all we can possibly do.
        Today we, once again, send a clear message to the world
    that the United States stands with the brave Nicaraguans who
    are committed to democracy and respect for the internationally
    recognized human rights.
        We are inspired by the incredible faith and bravery of
    those like Bishop Alvarez who nonviolently resist tyranny and
    refuse to give in to the demands of dictators.
        As we work to ensure that President Ortega and his cronies
    are held accountable for these heinous acts, I would note that
    the U.S. Treasury Department has sanctioned more than 43
    individuals and 11 entities, and has restricted hundreds of
    visas. So that is definitely a step in the right direction.
        Nevertheless, the extreme repression that the Ortega regime
    is committing against the people of Nicaragua deserves even
    greater attention from the United States and from our allies.
    Under President Ortega, Nicaragua has become a pariah
    dictatorship in league with other human rights abusers like
    Cuba, Venezuela, Russia, Iran, North Korea, and the People's
    Republic of China.
        The Ortega regime continues to eviscerate basic rights and
    fundamental freedoms, a decline which has been markedly
    increased over the last 5 years. Beginning with the
    government's crackdown on protestors in 2018, which left over
    300 dead, thousands injured, and hundreds in prison, President
    Ortega has shown the world his blatant disregard for everything
    except consolidating his own power.
        I note parenthetically that we got a mere glimpse of this,
    a few of us, back in 1984, when Frank Wolf and I and two other
    Members, Tony Hall and Bob McEwen, went and met with him in
    Managua, raised human rights issues directly with him. Thinking
    that we were coming to praise him, we spent 2 hours talking
    exclusively on human rights. They gave us drinks. Three of us
    drank the drinks. We got very, very ill. And Tony Hall, who
    perhaps was wise enough not to take a sip, never got sick.
        We saw when he did this to the students. It is one of their
    terrible ways that they deal with dissidents. They sent in
    rancid food, and many of them got very sick as well.
        The Catholic Church is under siege, as we all know. He is
    waging a war against them.
        So, again, we are doing everything we can to raise these
    issues. This hearing is but another step, and I cannot thank
    you enough for being here to be our witnesses.
        I would like to yield to my good friend, Chairwoman
    Salazar.
        Ms. Salazar. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
        And delighted to see you here, Mr. Maradiaga, Mr. Chamorro.
    We really never thought that probably we were going to be able
    to see you again, and I am delighted that we were able to do
    everything possible in order to have you here.
        And thank you, Mr. Chairman. As the chairwoman of the
    Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere and a relentless fighter for
    the people of Nicaragua because I know them very well, I lived
    there, I know what a great country you have. And it is an honor
    to host you this hearing today and with the rest of my
    colleagues.
        As we were saying, the Catholic church is under siege.
    Almost three-quarters of Nicaraguans belong to the Catholic
    church. To have complete control over them, the now dictator in
    chief, Daniel Ortega, needs to replace the Almighty God with
    his dictatorship. And that is why he is systematically hunting
    down and silencing the most sacred, sovereign institution in
    Nicaragua's history--the Catholic church. The church is the
    last, the loudest voice against his regime.
        There have been over 400 attacks on the church in recent
    years, and let me just name a few so everyone can remember.
        In 2018, police went into the Divine Mercy parish located
    in Managua, locked in young protestors and rained bullets on
    them. They were looking for a sanctuary, but instead they found
    death.
        In 2020, a fire bomb was thrown in Managua's cathedral,
    destroying the famous image of Blood of Christ, an almost 400-
    year-old crucifix beloved by thousands and thousands of
    Nicaraguans.
        Last year, Daniel Ortega escalated his attacks on the
    faithful. He ordered the dissolution of hundreds of NGO's. He
    expelled 18 of Mother Teresa's nuns, holy women who worked in
    the most dangerous areas of Nicaragua, including el Mercado
    Oriental.
        This breaks my heart because as a journalist working for
    Univision, I interviewed those women. They were saints. And I
    felt their holiness when I walked into their humble clinic and
    spoke with them for hours.
        He also shut down 19 Catholic radio and television
    stations.
        Not only that, last month he broke relations with the
    Vatican, and they are to expel el Nuncio Apostolico, the
    Apostolic Nuncio.
        And now he wants us to be impressed by his goodness. Few
    weeks ago he released you, 222 political prisoners to the
    United States. He let them go--some of you free--but he took
    away your citizenship, your families, your property, everything
    except your lives.
        If Ortega were to be so compassionate, as you said, then
    Bishop Rolando Alvarez would have not been sentenced to 26
    years in the most brutal prison called La Modelo for leading a
    powerful demonstration just crying for freedom.
        From Managua, the message is clear: Ortega has made
    Nicaragua a prison for anyone who kneels to God the Father y La
    Santisima Virgen.
        In a shocking moment of clarity, Pope Francis called--
    himself, he called Ortega the new Hitler, and compared the
    Sandinista movement to the Russian Revolution. Bravo for Your
    Holiness.
        It is time for the international community to wake up to
    this historic evil and for the Biden administration to take
    action.
        First, the White House must continue increasing the RENACER
    sanctions on Ortega that I proudly passed in Congress.
        Second, the White House must communicate to American
    investors the danger of doing business in Nicaragua. The No. 1
    danger is that you could be expropriated and lose your money.
    And we wish luck to that textile company which just opened a
    100,000-square meter factory in Nicaragua. Good luck to you.
        Third, we must call on our Central American partners to
    shut down lending to this dictator. The Central American Bank
    for Economic Integration has approved $3.5 billion in funding
    for the Ortega-Murillo regime in the last 5 years. Shame on
    you. All this money only provides economic oxygen to the regime
    so they can keep oppressing the people.
        So having said all that, this is a message directly to
    Ortega-Murillo: You would be wise to remember that the Catholic
    church throughout history has defeated greater demons than you
    and your satanic wife, Rosario Murillo. It must humiliate you
    that everyone knows that, despite your title of President, she
    has the real power. For that reason, it won't surprise anyone
    that you are too small of a man to take down a 2,000-year-old
    legendary institution.
        And in case you haven't been reading the Scriptures lately,
    let me just tell you what Daniel chapter 5 says: You will learn
    that the last king of Babylon was also drunk on power and
    defiled God. And then the writing on the wall appeared.
        And the warning is the same for you. Your days are
    numbered. You have been measured and failed, and everything you
    have stolen from the people of Nicaragua will turn to ash.
        But I am going to say it in Spanish so he can hear me.
        [Speaking in Spanish.]
        I yield back.
        Mr. Smith. Thank you very much for that very powerful
    opening statement.
        And I would like to now yield to Mr. Stanton.
        Mr. Stanton. Thank you very much, Chair Smith and Chair
    Salazar, for calling this critically important hearing.
        I want to thank the witnesses who are here today for your
    testimony in advance. I want to especially welcome Mr.
    Maradiaga and Dr. Chamorro, and commend you for your bravery in
    standing up for democracy in Nicaragua.
        While I am grateful that you both have finally been
    released from your unjust imprisonment, I am deeply disturbed
    that Daniel Ortega chose to strip you both and 220 others of
    Nicaraguan citizenship shortly after your arrival in the United
    States last month.
        These political and business leaders, journalists, and
    students cannot go back to their homes. They remain separated
    from their families. They have had their property seized. They
    cannot study, work, or participate in political or civil life
    in their homeland, and that is appalling.
        From his reelection in 2007 through today, President Ortega
    has worked to consolidate power for himself. Our hearing today
    focuses in particular on his regime's brutal attacks on the
    Catholic church and civil society. Ortega has targeted both
    since retaking power 15 years ago, but his violent repression
    tactics intensified in 2018 after countrywide protests,
    protests that the Ortega regime cracked down on, resulting in
    the deaths of more than 300 Nicaraguans.
        Then in 2021, Ortega jailed every potential political
    opponent, dropping any pretense of democratic legitimacy. Those
    who dare to speak out against his crimes against humanity,
    including faith leaders, students, journalists, and human
    rights defenders, face the same arbitrary detentions or worse.
    In fact, a U.N. delegation found that the Nicaraguan Government
    has and continues to participate in serious and systemic human
    rights abuses, including extrajudicial executions and torture.
        And while 222 Nicaraguan political prisoners were freed and
    most flown to the United States in February, dozens remain,
    including Bishop Rolando Jose Alvarez, who refused to be exiled
    from his country and now faces 26 years behind bars. He and
    nearly 20 other priests have been stripped of their
    nationality, and more than a dozen have been prosecuted for
    speaking out with moral clarity against Ortega's human rights
    abuses.
        Last year, Ortega expelled the Apostolic Nuncio, the
    highest ranking diplomat of the Catholic church, from the
    country, and early this month officially severed diplomatic
    ties with the Vatican after Pope Francis harshly criticized the
    regime.
        These are calculated and consistent attacks, and it is
    clear that the Ortega regime assault on the church and its
    leaders is part of a larger effort to consolidate absolute
    power in Nicaragua.
        But Ortega has not limited his attack to the Catholic
    church. Instead, he has worked to all but eliminate any
    organization his regime does not control, including nonprofit
    organizations, including charities. More than 3,000 national
    and international NGO's are no longer allowed to operate in
    Nicaragua. Some will be able to conduct their missions from
    other Central American countries or the United States, but most
    have been forced to permanently close.
        This has widespread socioeconomic consequences for
    vulnerable populations, especially indigenous communities,
    worsening the humanitarian situation of the country, limiting
    access to information, increasing international migration.
        It is a travesty, and it is happening to our neighbors.
    America cannot afford to overlook the human rights abuses
    happening right now in Nicaragua, so we have stepped in several
    ways.
        The Biden administration, with the support of Congress'
    bipartisan RENACER Act passed in 2021, has strengthened U.S.
    sanctions against Nicaragua. We continue to pursue targeted
    sanctions to hold Ortega and his cronies accountable for their
    human rights abuses. The Biden administration has also
    requested $15 million in democratic assistance directly for the
    Nicaraguan people in Fiscal Year 2024.
        While this committee will dive deeper into budgetary issues
    in tomorrow's important hearing, I will note how important it
    is to fund foreign operations at least at the President's
    requested levels, and we will hear examples of what import this
    is from our witnesses today.
        And we should also work to reform our immigration system to
    make legal pathways more accessible while investing in border
    security and ensuring safe, humane process for migrants,
    including those freeing repression in Nicaragua arriving here
    in the United States.
        We are witnessing one of the worst authoritarian assaults
    on democracy in Latin America in decades. This committee, our
    committee, our joint committees, will continue to work in a
    bipartisan way to support the Nicaraguan people and those who
    have been exiled. The United States cannot waiver in our
    efforts to restore democratic governance in Nicaragua, protect
    fundamental human rights, and end Ortega's campaign of
    violence, intimidation, and repression.
        Thank you all for being here.
        Mr. Smith. Thank you, Mr. Stanton.
        The chair recognizes my friend and colleague, Ms. Wild, the
    ranking member on our subcommittee.
        Ms. Wild. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
        Let me begin by thanking Chairs Smith and Salazar for
    calling this important hearing.
        And to our witnesses, thank you for your leadership, your
    sacrifice, and unwavering commitment to a future of democracy,
    human rights, and human dignity in Nicaragua.
        For years, Daniel Ortega has consolidated wealth and power
    at the expense of his people, and has run Nicaragua like his
    personal fiefdom, installing family members in senior roles
    across the regime, including his wife, Rosario Murillo, as vice
    president, enriching himself through corruption and illicit
    financial schemes and cracking down on all forms of dissent.
        Once the leader of the revolution which toppled a brutal
    multigenerational dictatorship and once a symbol of hope for
    the Nicaraguan society long torn by inequality, Daniel Ortega
    long ago destroyed his legacy, betrayed the revolution, and
    turned Nicaragua back into an authoritarian country ruled by an
    all powerful dynasty.
        Since the regime's response to protests over deeply
    unpopular economic austerity politics in 2018 in which security
    forces used weapons of war to kill, injure, and detain
    thousands of people exercising their fundamental rights, more
    than 100,000 Nicaraguans have fled the country.
        Violence, repression, and arbitrary detentions remain a
    deadly reality for anyone who dares to speak out against the
    regime, not just activists, but religious leaders, indigenous
    people, healthcare workers, members of the LGBTQ community, and
    Nicaraguans of all stripes.
        Earlier this month in its first report to the U.N. Human
    Rights Council, the Group of Human Rights Experts on Nicaragua
    reported that widespread human rights violations that amount to
    crimes against humanity are being committed against innocent
    civilians.
        As Members of Congress, it is our responsibility to use our
    platform to draw attention to this crisis and to stand in a
    spirit of solidarity and partnership with the people of
    Nicaragua. I use the words ``solidarity'' and ``partnership''
    very deliberately here. I cannot neglect to note the tragic
    history of destructive U.S. Government interference in
    Nicaragua. We should never go back to that time, not in
    Nicaragua, not in Latin America, not anywhere around the world.
        Our task is not to infringe on the sovereignty of the
    Nicaraguan people or any other people. It is to advocate for
    and to support a policy of support for human rights that is
    consistent and based in a spirit of neutral respect,
    cooperation, and justice.
        I look forward to hearing from our diverse panel of
    witnesses about what more the United States and international
    community can do to support all of those struggling for human
    rights and democratic values in Nicaragua. I hope this serves
    as a starting point for a continued conversation this Congress
    on how we can more effectively support the people of Nicaragua
    at this difficult time.
        Thank you for joining us today, and I look forward to a
    productive discussion.
        Mr. Smith. Ms. Wild, thank you very much.
        I would like to introduce our witnesses. The co-chair and I
    will just very briefly introduce you, and then--the first will
    be Bianca Jagger, who has been an aggressive human rights
    advocate. She has been in all of our offices time and time
    again pushing especially for human rights in Nicaragua. She was
    born in Nicaragua, and in 2005 founded the Bianca Jagger Human
    Rights Foundation. She has received numerous awards, including
    the alternative Nobel Prize award in 2004 called the Right
    Livelihood Award.
        Going back 30 years ago, we had her at hearings when we had
    serious problems in the Balkans. I will never forget her
    testimony on that as well.
        So she will be our first witness. She cannot make it today
    physically. She hurt her back, so she is doing it by way of
    Zoom.
        And then we will go to Felix Maradiaga, who is--what a hero
    he is, as well as Dr. Chamorro. He is an academic. I have a
    full statement here, and we will put all of that into the
    record, but he is the former secretary general of the
    Nicaraguan Ministry of Defense. Due to his outspoken activism,
    the Ortega regime accused him of terrorism related to the
    demonstrations that erupted in April 2018. Again, he spent 611
    days behind bars. And he and his wife are just two very, very
    noble people, and I think the future, along with Dr. Chamorro,
    the future of Nicaragua.
        I would like to yield to my co-chair.
        Ms. Salazar. Yes. And I think we are going to be presenting
    Juan Sebastian Chamorro--once again, glad you are here--a
    Nicaraguan economist, political leader, and human rights
    defender.
        In 2005, Mr. Chamorro served as the technical secretary of
    the Presidency of the Republic of Nicaragua, the ministry in
    charge of strategic national planning, before serving as the
    vice minister of finance the following year. From 2006 to 2011,
    Mr. Chamorro helped execute the grant program by heading the
    millennium challenge in Nicaragua. But in June 2021, he was
    detained by the Ortega repressive apparatus, and later was able
    to come to the United States in February 2023.
        And also should we introduce our other witness? And Mrs.
    Deborah Ullmer. Thank you for being here.
        Mrs. Ullmer brings more than 20 years of experience
    managing a range of democracy assistance and human rights
    programs. Most recently, she served as Freedom House's director
    for Latin America. Mrs. Ullmer previously served at the
    National Democratic Institute from 1996 through 2018, where she
    focused primarily on the Latin America portfolio.
        Thank you, the four of you, for being here.
        Should we start the questions?
        Mr. Smith. Well, first their comments.
        Ms. Salazar. OK. I think that maybe we should give you some
    time----
        Mr. Smith. Exactly.
        Ms. Salazar [continuing]. For you to----
        Mr. Smith. Starting with Bianca, if she is ready.

       STATEMENT OF BIANCA JAGGER, FOUNDER, PRESIDENT, AND CHIEF
            EXECUTIVE, BIANCA JAGGER HUMAN RIGHTS FOUNDATION

        Ms. Jagger. I am.
        Honorable Members of Congress, I would first like to thank
    Congressman Chris Smith and Congresswoman Maria Salazar for
    their unflinching support of the Nicaraguan people. It is
    always a pleasure for me to testify before Congressman Smith,
    who I have known for many, many years, and I have shared many
    of my concerns with him.
        I would also like to say hello to my fellow Nicaraguan and
    fellow witnesses, especially to my two dear friends, Felix
    Maradiaga and Juan Ignacio Chamorro--Juan Sebastian Chamorro.
    Of course, I am very honored to be here with Deborah Ullmer,
    who is a champion of human rights and democracy.
        I would like to request to have my written testimony and
    the article I published in the Catholic Herald submitted for
    the record.
        Mr. Smith. Without objection, so ordered.
        Ms. Jagger. Thank you.
        I would address the subject of today's hearing, the Ortega-
    Murillo regime's unholy war against the Catholic church and
    civil society in Nicaragua and the martyrdom of Bishop Rolando
    Jose Alvarez Lagos.
        It gives me great pleasure to see that most of the members
    who have spoken today are well aware of what is happening in
    Nicaragua, not just now, but for many years in the past. I do
    not know if some of what I will say you already said in your
    presentation, but I would like to remind everyone that on the
    9th of February, 222 political prisoners were expelled from
    Nicaragua to the U.S. by the dictatorial regime of Ortega and
    Murillo. Among those who boarded the plane were top opposition
    leaders, six Presidential pre-candidates and, of course, two of
    them are among us and will be testifying before you.
        And I think that it will be better for them to tell you
    more about how they felt now that they are free. But among
    those people where--among the 222 were campesinos and business
    leaders, journalists, and priests. And it gives me great hope
    to know that they are free at last and that perhaps that is the
    end for the suffering of all of that period of time in which
    they were in jail.
        But the most eminent prisoner who Ortega and Murillo were
    eager to get rid of, Bishop Rolando Jose Alvarez, the bishop of
    the Diocese of Matagalpa, refused to leave the country and
    accept expulsion. The bishop had repeatedly Stated that he will
    not leave the country and abandon the people of Nicaragua,
    despite the regime's repeated threat of exile or jail. It is
    reported that he said, Let them go free. I will pay for their
    sentences. He was offering himself as a sacrifice for the good
    of others. Bishop Alvarez Lagos, following in the footsteps of
    Jesus Christ, is the good shepherd who will lay down his life
    for his sheep. He is and remains today as the symbol of
    resistance in Nicaragua, never faltering in his struggle
    against tyranny and repression.
        I cannot tell you how important it is the gesture of Bishop
    Alvarez to remain in Nicaragua. It was not only because he had
    always said that he would not leave the country, but I think
    that he wanted everyone to realize that, yes, Daniel Ortega
    released or expelled 222 people, but that the people of
    Nicaragua are still there under a repressive government.
        Jan-Michael Simon, chair of the U.N. Group of Human Rights
    Experts on Nicaragua, compared the Nicaraguan regime's strategy
    to the crimes committed by the Nazis in Germany in the 1930's
    and 1940's. He said: ``All the elements that are seen in
    Nicaragua, unfortunately, can be seen in the Nuremberg
    trials.'' In Nazi Germany, about 39,000 people were deprived of
    their citizenship from July 14, 1933. Among some of the most
    prominent were Bertolt Brecht, Albert Einstein, Erich Maria
    Remarque, Stefan Zweig, and Willy Brandt.
        The Stalin Soviet Union also adopted the advanced
    repressive practice of the allies under the Molotov-Ribbentrop
    Pact. During the existence of the USSR, dozens of thousands of
    people were deprived of citizenship, including Trotsky,
    Solzhenitsyn, Rostropovich, and Lyubimov, and many, many
    others.
        That is why I think that it is so important that we realize
    that what Daniel Ortega is doing today in Nicaragua is of a
    great seriousness and that the international community cannot
    really accept it without imposing more sanctions on their
    regime.
        On the 9th of February, as a retaliation for his refusal to
    board the plane, Bishop Alvarez was transferred to the infamous
    Jorge Navarro prison, known as La Modelo, regarded as one of
    the most brutal in Latin America. The bishop is one of 37 or 39
    political prisoners that remain in Nicaragua.
        On the 10th of February, the day after Bishop Alvarez Lagos
    refused to board the flight to the U.S., he was condemned
    without due process and through a spurious judicial proceeding
    to 26 years and 4 months. His sentence was read by president of
    Chamber 1 of the Court of Appeals in Managua. He said: The
    defendant Rolando Jose Alvarez Lagos is held to be a traitor to
    the country, guilty of being the author of crimes to undermine
    the national security and sovereignty, spreading fake news
    through information technology, of obstructing an official in
    the performance of his duty.
        On that day as well, in addition to stripping Bishop
    Alvarez of his Nicaraguan citizenship, he was disqualified for
    life for exercising public office at the service of the State
    of Nicaragua and decreed perpetual loss of his civil rights.
        That same evening, Ortega held a rambling televised press
    conference to give his official version of the largest
    deportation in Latin America history. And I call it
    deportation, but, of course, deportation is only when you are
    deporting a foreign citizen. But let's call it for the benefit
    of what he said at the time. He was outraged at the bishop's
    refusal to leave the country, accusing him of being a
    terrorist. Ortega confirmed that he sent Bishop Alvarez Lagos
    to La Modelo prison because ``he is an ordinary man.'' What we
    have is an arrogant individual who considers himself the head
    of the church in Nicaragua, the leader of the Latin America
    church, and must think that he is in line to be the Pope. He is
    unhinged, he said. When he arrived at La Modelo he was a
    madman, incapable of having the courage of Christ, who endured
    flagellations and the crucifixion. He refused to accept being
    put in a cell where there are hundreds of prisoners. He is
    irritated because now he is in prison.
        I cannot tell you the chills that I felt down my spine when
    I heard Ortega make this statement. Did Daniel Ortega mean to
    say that he put the bishop in a cell with hundreds of other
    prisoners?
        On the 15th of February, Ortega and Murillo intensified
    their crackdown on dissidents to maintain their grip on power,
    putting into practice Murillo's infamous phrase, ``vamos con
    todo,'' let's go at them with everything.
        This regime arbitrarily stripped another 94 political
    dissidents of their citizenship, accusing them of being
    traitors to the homeland, committing criminal acts to the
    detriment of peace, sovereignty, independence, and self-
    determination of the Nicaraguan people.
        Among those distinguished human rights people and others,
    they are Bishop Silvio Baez, a distinguished--who is in exile
    in Miami; the distinguished human rights defender Vilma Nunez,
    who has decided herself as well to remain in Nicaragua; our
    winning authors Sergio Ramirez, Gioconda Belli; and influential
    journalist Carlos Fernando Chamorro.
        During--and I would like to explain, if I may and I have
    the time, why is it that Daniel Ortega hates so much Bishop
    Alvarez?
        During the civil unrest in 2018, Bishop Alvarez Lagos led
    the Episcopal team, who mediated the first national dialog
    between the Ortega regime and the opposition. The bishop gave
    explicit instructions before the parties sat down at the
    negotiating table. The national dialog has only one goal--he
    said--change. Change is inevitable. There is no other way, and
    there is no other purpose. Change is coming, and with it the
    democratization of the Republic of Nicaragua.
        Ortega never forgave him for saying that. Ortega used the
    dialog to launch a deadly crackdown on the population with
    weapons of war, the police, riot police, military and
    paramilitary forces to crash the rebellion.
        The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights commissioned
    a report by the Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts,
    GIEI, which condemned the Ortega-Murillo regime for weakening
    the rule of law and committing crimes against humanity. They
    estimated that, during those violent days, at least 355 people
    were killed, 2,000 were injured, and 171 arbitrarily detained.
    In March of the following year, the Ortega regime vetoed Bishop
    Alvarez Lagos from mediating or even witnessing the
    negotiations. Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes ended up being the sole
    representative of the Catholic church, accompanied by the then
    Apostolic Nuncio Stanislaw Sommertag.
        Bishop Alvarez Lagos' sermons and homilies have frequently
    decried Ortega and Murillo's systematic and grave violations of
    human rights, brutal repression, and religious prosecution. I
    admire his integrity, his prophetic voice, and his courage to
    speak truth to power.
        I am not going to talk to you about these many famous
    sermons of Monsignor Alvarez because I have put it in my
    written testimony, but I urge you to read them.
        I would like to convey my gratitude to bishops throughout
    the world who have issued statements calling for Bishop Alvarez
    Lagos' release, condemning the Ortega-Murillo regime
    persecution of the Catholic church and the repression of the
    people of Nicaragua. Their unwavering support has provided hope
    to those living under the dictatorship and will ensure that the
    bishop is not forgotten.
        On the 12th of February during his weekly blessing of the
    Angelus to pilgrims in Saint Peter's Square, Pope Francis
    issued a statement on Bishop Alvarez Lagos, who said: I have
    been much saddened by the news that comes from Nicaragua, and I
    cannot but remember with concern the bishop of Matagalpa,
    Monsignor Rolando Alvarez, who I love so much and who was
    condemned to 26 years in prison, and also the people who were
    deported to the United States. I pray for them and for all of
    those who are suffering in that dear country.
        On the 22d of February, Ortega launched a tirade of insults
    against the Catholic church, describing it as an organized
    mafia. If we are going to talk about democracy, he said, the
    people should first elect the priests. I do not believe in
    popes or kings. If they are going to be democratic, they must
    begin by electing the Pope, the cardinals, the bishops with the
    votes of the Catholics, and went on to accuse the church of
    being allied with the Nazis during the Second World War.
        Pope Francis, who had taken more than 6 months to mention
    Bishop Alvarez Lagos and address the dire situation the people
    in Nicaragua are facing, gave an interview to Spanish newspaper
    ABC last December where he said: The Holy See never leaves.
    They kick her out. It always tries to save the people. And its
    weapon is dialog and diplomacy.
        But on the 10th of March, after Ortega's unspeakable attack
    on the Catholic church and the Pope himself, Pope Francis gave
    an interview to an Argentinian journalist called Daniel Hadad,
    for Infobae, stating: With great respect, I have no other
    choice but to think that the person in power, relating to
    Ortega, is mentally unbalanced.
        For the first time the Pope spoke bluntly about the attacks
    of the regime against the Catholic church and expressed the
    solidarity with Bishop AlvarezLagos: We have an incarcerated
    bishop there, a very responsible man, a very capable man. He
    wanted to testify and did not accept exile. This is something
    that is out of line with what we are currently experiencing. It
    is like bringing back the 1917 communist dictatorship or the
    1935 Hitlerite dictatorship. They are a type of crass
    dictatorship, or to use a nice Argentinian expression,
    guarangas, uncouth.
        Mr. Smith. Ms. Jagger, thank you.
        Ms. Jagger. Yes.
        Mr. Smith. We are pretty much out of time, but we will get
    back to you with questions, if that is OK.
        Ms. Jagger. Sure. If I may just say simply what I would
    like to ask about Monsignor, if you allow me.
        Mr. Smith. OK.
        Ms. Jagger. According to Ortega, Bishop Alvarez Lagos is
    serving his sentence in La Modelo prison. I have recently been
    informed that no one close to Bishop Alvarez Lagos knows where
    he is. His family has not seen him since he refused to board
    the plane to the U.S. They have not been allowed to visit him,
    bring him his medicine, food, or even water. I am deeply
    concerned for his safety, and I am asking that the Ortega
    regime make a proof of life, and that you here in Congress
    demand that the Ortega regime present a proof of life.
        Thank you very much.
        [The prepared statement of Ms. Jagger follows:]

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        Mr. Smith. Thank you so very, very much.
        I would like to now go to Mr. Maradiaga.

      STATEMENT OF FELIX MARADIAGA, J.D., PRESIDENT AND FOUNDER,
                 FUNDACIN PARA LA LIBERTAD DE NICARAGUA

        Mr. Maradiaga. Good afternoon. Let me begin by thanking Co-
    Chair Christopher Smith and Co-Chair Maria Salazar, also
    distinguished Members of Congress present here. Thank you for
    opening this House on several occasions to my wife, Berta
    Valle, and also to Victoria Cardenas, the wife of my dear
    friend, Juan Sebastian Chamorro. I would also like to
    acknowledge the presence of Berta; our daughter, Alejandra,
    over there; and my dear brothers, also political prisoners who
    were on the plane. There, they can raise their hands
        [speaking in Spanish]. Thank you for being here. I am
    really emotional.
        My written statement, which I will be summarizing, has been
    submitted for the record, if that is OK with you, Mr. Chairman.
        Mr. Smith. Without objection, it is part of the record.
        Mr. Maradiaga. Thank you.
        As I Stated in my testimony during a congressional hearing,
    back in 2019, Ortega constituted a clear danger not only to the
    people of Nicaragua but also to the hemisphere. Ortega is a
    relic of the cold war, and he embodies a legacy of oppression
    against human dignity. After 611 days under extreme and
    inhumane prison conditions, I can only reconfirm those words.
        On the day of my arrest, June 8, 2021, I was beaten by the
    police outside of the prosecutor's office. Once inside the
    notorious prison El Chipote, we were kept in complete isolation
    from the outside world. At some point I was even placed in a
    punishment cell simply for my decision to fast and pray in
    audible voice. No reading or writing materials were allowed,
    not even a Bible, which I insisted is fundamental to my
    Catholic faith.
        Almost 4 years have passed since my previous testimony here
    and also my testimony at the United NationsSecurity Council,
    and despite all the efforts by the international community, the
    Ortega regime has only grown more ruthless. His ties with
    China, Iran, and Russia are stronger, and he has not been shy
    about expressing his hatred of the United States.
        It is time to move on to a new stage of greater pressure
    where all the tools of diplomacy are used with all their might,
    including the closure of direct financing channels to the
    dictatorship.
        The new phase of the Ortega repression has focused on
    persecution of the Catholic church. It must be said with total
    clarity, today in Nicaragua there is a religious persecution.
        On February 9, 41 days ago, the regime expelled 222
    political prisoners who flew to the United States under
    deportation. The former political prisoners who boarded that
    plane are Nicaraguan patriots who never thought of living
    outside our beloved country. These former political prisoners
    are facing great vulnerability and, therefore, I respectfully
    ask you to consider granting an accelerated path toward
    political asylum. In addition, we ask the administration to
    sign a new TPS assignment that benefits thousands of our
    brothers who are forcing to exile during our kidnapping.
        Bishop Rolando Alvarez, the bishop of my own diocese, I
    come also from Matagalpa, refused to board that plane. He
    refused to be forced into exile, and he refused to be released
    because other 37 political prisoners were remained locked up.
    Such a courageous act of peaceful resistance cannot be ignored
    by the world.
        I am here before you to ask you for your greatest effort to
    put pressure on the Ortega regime through all available
    diplomatic measures for the immediate and unconditional release
    of Monsignor Alvarez and all political prisoners in Nicaragua.
        Bishop Alvarez is in prison simply because, from the
    pulpit, he has expressed the following beliefs, and these are
    direct quotes from his homilies: A Christian cannot have false
    neutralities. He who remains silent in the face of human rights
    violation has already decided.
        Another of his phrases from one of the churches surrounded
    by paramilitaries was the following, and I quote: Why are they
    armed? Why do they stir the hearts of a simple and hardworking
    people? Why are they besieging the church as if it were a
    military barrack? No one here is conspiring against anyone.
        All these are his exact quotes.
        Other repressive acts against the Catholic church in
    Nicaragua has been the expulsion of the Vatican nuncio,
    detention of over 12 members of the church, including 7
    priests. Other 18 religious were expelled from the country and
    dozens of religious media have been shut down.
        In addition, in several locations the Sandinista police has
    forbidden parishioners from receiving the Eucharist inside the
    temple, and does not allow religious celebrations in the open,
    such as the recent prohibition of the Via Crucis.
        For us Catholics, the Way of the Cross is a sacred devotion
    that commemorates Jesus Christ's last day on Earth as a man.
    For Christians around the world of all denominations, the
    crucifixion of Jesus is the ultimate symbol of nonviolence and
    sacrifice. We are reminded of his words: Blessed are the
    peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
        Perhaps for that reason, it is no coincidence that the
    peaceful protests of April 2018 found in the Christian faith,
    in our faith, a profound inspiration of nonviolent resistance.
        Monsignor Alvarez is in prison because he was the only
    voice left free to preach an inalienable truth, that all men
    are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with
    certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty,
    and the pursuit of happiness.
        These principles so beautifully expressed in the United
    States Declaration of Independence have inspired entire
    nations. They inspired me throughout my life as a former
    political refugee here. But these principles are also
    undermined by dictatorships around the world, not only by
    Ortega. These are principles that transcend religions,
    transcend races, borders, and nationalities. Your democratic
    solidarity here in Congress will be instrumental in helping us
    defend these principles and achieve the freedom we deserve.
        Thank you.
        [The prepared statement of Mr. Maradiaga follows:]

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        Mr. Smith. Dr. Chamorro.

     STATEMENT OF DR. JUAN SEBASTIAN CHAMORRO, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR,
                CIVIC ALLIANCE FOR JUSTICE AND DEMOCRACY

        Dr. Chamorro. Thank you very much.
        Thank you, Chairwoman Salazar. Chair Smith, if I may
    summarize the statement.
        My name is Juan Sebastian Chamorro, and I was kidnapped by
    the police from my house the night of June 8, 2021. I was
    captured in front of my wife and my daughter, who left the
    country afterwards. My family did not know anything about me
    until I was able to see my sister August 30. That is almost 3
    months after my arrest.
        As political prisoner, I suffered arbitrary detention,
    arbitrary jail, inhumane treatment, threats, and constant
    interrogations. I was condemned to 13 years in prison in a fake
    trial. I was banished from my country and stripped from my
    nationality.
        My story is a story of hundreds of Nicaraguans who decided
    to defend freedom, justice, and democracy. One year and 8
    months, 611 days behind bars, kept in captivity, suffering
    injustice, but all those days only reinforced my determination
    to fight for freedom and to fight for democracy.
        The lack of freedom and the lack of democracy in Nicaragua
    is the result of an absolute destruction of the State of law in
    Nicaragua, which started after the rise of power of Daniel
    Ortega in 2007. Today, as a result of this authoritarian
    project, in Nicaragua there is no law, there is no media, and
    there are no civil rights.
        The repression against the Catholic church in Nicaragua is
    unprecedented in the history of Latin America. Nicaragua is one
    of only 14 countries without diplomatic relations with the Holy
    See and the only one in the region.
        During the popular and peaceful protests of April 2018,
    church leaders stood firm in front of the abuses, the death,
    and violence that erupted from the government.
        From the beginning, Bishop Alvarez was a critic of the
    regime, and soon began to be the focus of police harassment,
    which led to his house arrest August 19, 2022. Alvarez was not
    the only one captured. Five other priests, five seminarists,
    and support personnel from Alvarez's diocese were taken. We
    shared jail with them. We saw their suffering, but also we saw
    their strength, given by the faith and the strong ideas on
    principles of their leader, our Pastor Alvarez.
        So the question here is why Ortega's war against the
    church. The answer is very simple. After putting all the
    opposition in jail, repressing all forms of protests, the
    dictator had to deal with the last standing voice defending
    freedom, defending peace, and defending human dignity. Ortega
    had to silence the voice of the church in order to impose his
    own voice of hate and violence.
        Members of the joint committee, Ortega's violence goes
    beyond members of the church. By prohibiting processions during
    Holy Week, he is repressing millions of Nicaraguans who march
    every year, every Good Friday with devotion to express their
    faith.
        Ortega has closed hundreds of church-affiliated charities,
    leaving them without support, thousands of people who depend on
    those NGO's for their education, their health, and their well-
    being. This is unfair and this is inhumane. Innocent victims
    should not pay the price of the stubbornness of a single family
    to remain in power.
        I asked one of the priests in jail what the police claimed
    to be was his crime. He said the police captured him because of
    something that he said in his sermon. When a priest is put in
    jail because of this, how lower can a dictatorship can go?
        Unfortunately, members of this committee, I have to say
    that Ortega's dictatorship can go even deeper. He knows no
    limits.
        Many of us paid with our own freedom the act of resistance
    against tyranny and repression. We need the international
    community to help us Nicaraguans in our fight for democracy and
    freedom. It is crucial to maintain pressure against those
    responsible for crimes, deaths, and abuses. I believe that
    justice will prevail but only if we maintain as a unified force
    to combat oppression.
        Finally, Mr. Chairman Smith, Chairwoman Salazar, members of
    the committee, I would like to thank Congress, the
    administration, and the American people for the support we have
    received since our departure from Nicaragua and arrival to the
    United States on that plane in February. I am also thankful for
    the efforts to reunite our families and to expedite our legal
    situation.
        Thank you, especially to you, Ms. Salazar.
        I just would like to finish with this sentence: That from
    this city and from this Hill shines the light of freedom that
    illuminates millions of people in the world who suffer from the
    chains of injustice.
        Thank you very much.
        [The prepared statement of Mr. Chamorro follows:]

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        Ms. Salazar. We know it.
        Mr. Smith. Thank you, Dr. Chamorro. Let's hope we live up
    to that hope and expectation you have of us as well.
        Ms. Ullmer.

       STATEMENT OF DEBORAH ULLMER, REGIONAL DIRECTOR FOR LATIN
        AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN PROGRAMS, NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC
                               INSTITUTE

        Ms. Ullmer. Thank you, Chairman Smith, Chairwoman Salazar,
    Ranking Member Castro, and Representative Wild. Thank you for
    this opportunity to address the members of the joint
    subcommittees on this important and timely hearing on the
    repression in Nicaragua.
        My name is Deborah Ullmer, and I am the Latin American
    regional director for the National Democratic Institute, and I
    have worked and lived in Nicaragua.
        NDI's global experience of working in over 70 countries
    with more than 55 offices over the past 40 years shows us that
    when people have the choice, they choose democracy. However,
    they do not always have that choice. Unfortunately, that is the
    case in Nicaragua today. Instead, the choices offered by the
    dictatorial couple of Daniel Ortega and his wife, Rosario
    Murillo, are silence, prison, or forced exile.
        I am honored to sit here alongside my friends, Berta,
    Felix, and Juan Sebastian, and to be joining the fierce human
    rights advocate Bianca Jagger.
        The situation in Nicaragua is deeply personal to me. My
    husband's name appears as the first name on the list of the 94
    who were stripped of their citizenship on February 15.
        As the honorable Members of Congress surely understand,
    Nicaragua under the Ortega-Murillo regime represents not just a
    moral and human rights challenge, but also a threat to the
    security of the United States. As Nicaragua becomes more
    autocratic, it is deepening its ties to China and Russia,
    granting them influence less than 2,000 miles from our border.
        Additionally, Latin American autocrats are learning from
    one another. As Venezuela moves to pass a restrictive NGO law
    modeled after Nicaragua, Belarus, and Russia, they publicly
    praised Ortega-Murillo regime for their censorship practices.
        In addition, there are disturbing signs of closing civic
    and political space in northern Central America, where
    democracy supporters, as well as those working to undermine
    democracy, are closely watching the United States and how the
    international community responds to the repression and the
    orchestrated democratic demise of their neighboring country. In
    this regard, Nicaragua threatens to destabilize Central
    America.
        As the ongoing abuses against the Catholic church and the
    broader society demonstrate, there is no time to waste in
    developing an effective strategy for stymying the
    dictatorship's negative influence in the region.
        I would like to propose a few areas of bipartisan
    engagement, if I may.
        First, the upcoming second Summit for Democracy on March 29
    and 30 provides an opportunity for democratic governments in
    Latin America to stand together. In particular, the U.S. can
    work with Costa Rica and other democracies in the region to
    expand the alliance for development in democracy and advance
    high-level regional dialog.
        Second, the U.S. must continue to use its voice, vote, and
    diplomacy within the Organization of American States to hold
    Nicaragua accountable for violations of the democratic charter.
        Third, the international community should call for the
    renewal of the mandate of the U.N. Group of Experts on
    Nicaragua to enable continuous monitoring and documenting of
    State abuses and provide recommendations for accountability and
    justice for the victims of repression. In particular, I want to
    call to attention the continuous attacks and systematic
    violence against the indigenous communities in the northern
    Caribbean coast. And we must not forget the 37 remaining
    political prisoners, including Bishop Alvarez.
        Fourth, the U.S. Government has diplomatic and economic
    tools to ensure that the international funding and trade are
    not propping up Ortega-Murillo's regime, including the
    bipartisan RENACER Act. In this regard, the U.S. should
    continue to focus sanctions on gold mining, energy, lumber
    production, sectors that threaten the economic interests of the
    Nicaraguan regime and the military.
        Fifth, NDI commends the bipartisan efforts by the Senate
    Foreign Relations Committee and the House Foreign Affairs
    Committee to urge the Presidents of Costa Rica, El Salvador,
    Guatemala, and Honduras to increase scrutiny of lending of the
    Central American Development Bank of Economic Integration to
    the Ortega-Murillo regime.
        The U.S. should also use its diplomatic tools to dissuade
    the CABEI board and democratic partners from other regions from
    continuing lending to Nicaragua until actions are taken by the
    regime toward a path to restore democracy in concert with
    Nicaraguan civic and political activists.
        Finally, Ambassador Kevin Sullivan and the U.S. Department
    of State are to be commended for their considerable efforts to
    ensure the safe transfer of the 222 former political prisoners
    to the United States and for their partnership that they have
    developed with the Nicaraguan diaspora in the U.S. to meet
    legal, housing, and mental health needs of the former
    prisoners, many of who come from modest, rural economic
    backgrounds. However, more than half of this group is living in
    vulnerable housing situations today.
        In this regard, I applaud you, Chairwoman Salazar, for your
    efforts to expedite the political asylum process. In the
    meantime, though, I urge Congress to grant Federal resources so
    that these heroes can access mainstream benefits and reduce
    their day-to-day struggles and can concentrate on reuniting
    with their families.
        We also urge the administration to assign new TPS status
    for the Nicaraguans fleeing the repression.
        Thank you again for this opportunity. I look forward to
    your questions.
        [The prepared statement of Ms. Ullmer follows:]

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        Mr. Smith. Thank you very much, Ms. Ullmer.
        Let me just start off by saying how grateful all of us are,
    and I say that in a bipartisan way, for the tremendous work all
    of you have done. I mean, you are heroes. And to put up with so
    much abuse is just--and to be resilient the way you are is
    inspiring to all of us. You are true, true leaders. And
    someday, there will be a free and Democratic Nicaragua, and you
    will be their walking point. So it is so encouraging to hear
    you.
        And, you know, you mentioned a moment ago about the new
    phase of repression against the church and against political
    prisoners--well, and against the church. We need a new phase in
    Washington of activism. Yes, we have three fine laws, all very
    fine laws, and Ms. Salazar played a key role in the latest one.
        But there needs to be, I think, a relooking at everything,
    especially as we notice that Ortega has recently had the
    Iranian Foreign Minister there in Managua on February 1st. He
    has now opened up an outpost in Crimea, forging more of a
    relationship with Russia. And, of course, he no longer supports
    Taiwan and has reneged on that Democratic country. And it is a
    country, even though the PRC does not like to even think of it
    that way. So he is realigning himself.
        And I think, Ms. Ullmer, your last statement about the
    CABEI bank, you know, some of the numbers we have seen is that
    the Ortega regime, in the last few years, has got 3.49 billion,
    and there is still 1.97 billion available for usage. That needs
    to be cutoff immediately. I mean, these kinds of actions call
    for very, very strong response. If not, the dictatorship of
    Ortega, his dictatorship, will just wait it out, wait until the
    coast clears and people aren't as outraged as they should be.
    We need to sustain that outrage, but take much more meaningful
    action.
        So any thoughts you have in regards to additional laws? Do
    we need to revisit CAFTA? And, you know, that would be very
    difficult. There are some difficulties in doing that. But we
    need to look at every way forward to put the pressure on Daniel
    Ortega.
        There needs to be visits. You know, the international
    community, including us, need to say--minimally, the ICRC needs
    to get in and see Bishop Alvarez and the other 37 political
    prisoners as they should have gotten in to see you. We need to
    try to get down there. I would love--and I would ask Ortega
    right now. I will come down. And I would not be alone.
        Ms. Salazar. I want to go, too.
        Mr. Smith. I know you would. And to visit the prisons. And
    I have actually been in prisons. I have got into Perm Camp 35,
    where they found Sharansky was in the 1980's. You know, Gusmao
    in Indonesia, I got into his gulag and met with him while he
    was in captivity. And then Frank Wolf and I went and we visited
    with a number of Tiananmen Square activists in Beijing Prison
    Number One right after Tiananmen Square.
        So Ortega could open up the door, and we are asking him
    right now to let us come and visit and ascertain the well-being
    or lack there of Bishop Alvarez and the others.
        And let me just finally say, and then anything you would
    like to say. You know, I have been in Congress 43 years. I have
    seen a series of dictatorships rise and fall, particularly in
    the East bloc countries. One of the countries that I focused on
    so robustly was on Romania and Nicolae Ceausescu. And I
    remember, for 10 years, we kept pushing because he went after
    the church and churches and the Jewish synagogues with such a
    hatred of God. And it is what Solzhenitsyn said it was. It is
    not atheism. It is a hatred of God and his creatures, us, the
    human beings.
        So I think we need to really ratchet up the pressure. I am
    glad the Pope has spoken out. We were asking him to speak out
    on your behalf, and now he has truly found his voice, and that
    needs to be sustained. And you did mention how the charities--
    how are the poor and those struggling making it without the
    faith-based entities that just so compassionately provide all
    that charitable work in Nicaragua? You might want to answer
    that as well. But any comments, please.
        Mr. Maradiaga. Thank you for your words. I would like to
    offer some ideas. I know that my colleagues here have some
    additional insight. But I would like to start focusing on one
    particular issue after the time that Juan Sebastian, Medardo
    Mairena, another of the very important leaders of the
    opposition in Nicaragua who was among the 222, also two former
    political prisoners and human rights defenders, Yaritza and
    Solange, who suffered in prison and highlighted a particular
    situation of women in the prisons of Nicaragua. So we composed
    a delegation and spent time with missions at the U.N. Security
    Council and many other diplomatic missions in Europe.
        So to that particular point, I think that transatlantic
    cooperation is very, very important. I cannot stop highlighting
    the importance of multilateral action. And why? Well, because
    Ortega, for years, has been using--of course, as an excuse--the
    difficult history of Nicaragua and the United States. But now
    we see that even former allies of Ortega are speaking loudly.
    So we have a very important window of opportunity to work,
    first of all, with Latin American countries. I welcome the
    actions of countries Colombia, Brazil, Argentina. The voice of
    Chile is very important.
        This was a point that I highlighted about 3 years ago, and
    we found it very difficult to mobilize partners in South
    America. And we have that window of opportunity. And we are
    seeing the same thing with Europe.
        So trying to build these new diplomatic tools together with
    European and South American countries is very, very important
    because, for years, Ortega has been playing that game of trying
    to excuse himself because of the so-called persecution of the
    United States in the context of a cold war that he is trying to
    revive. So that is one point.
        The second point is that, by expelling us from the country,
    Ortega is trying to replicate what many dictators have done
    over the years, which is basically shut down the opposition by
    sending us outside. It is really, really hard to operate from
    abroad. It is really, really hard to keep a voice when you are
    stripped of your nationality. When you are in a country that--
    as much as we admire and like the U.S., our plans have been
    always to live, work, and serve our people back in Nicaragua.
    So anything you can do through acts of Congress.
        And I know that the two cochairs have been very important
    in their leadership in that particular action. Anything you can
    do in giving a platform for this group of former political
    prisoners in terms of a fast track toward political asylum, in
    terms of getting travel documents so we can travel around the
    world and tell this story. I cannot stop telling how hard it is
    to travel under these circumstances. So by not traveling,
    Ortega is trying to shut down our voices.
        And I understand the bureaucracy is complicated, but those
    are just immediate ideas. I am sure that my colleagues here are
    going to have additional insights. Thank you.
        Mr. Chamarro. I would just like to add to my colleague's
    comment about the humanitarian crisis that, unfortunately, this
    wonderful trip brought us to the U.S. but also separated
    families. Husbands, wives, children, elderly are in Nicaragua
    now, and they are being used by the dictator as hostages. So
    this is an extremely serious concern that we have for our--all
    the people that came in the plane, that some actions are needed
    to put their families together. And I appreciate the efforts of
    Representative Salazar, in particular, to write the
    administration to expedite these processes because we have
    women who have their children back home, and they need to be
    united--reunited. So I just want to stress this humanitarian
    crisis that we are also facing. Yes. Thank you.
        Ms. Ullmer. Thank you. Chairman Smith, you mentioned DR-
    CAFTA. We do not actually need a new law. In RENACER, there is
    a specification there, as Representative Salazar knows, to
    review DR-CAFTA. I do think it should be reviewed. They are
    violating the Democratic clause of the trade.
        Second, we have called in the past for a special envoy to
    coordinate the different Federal institutions and the actions,
    coordinate sanctions, coordinate diplomacy, and coordinate
    Democratic assistance so that everything is in lockstep.
        And finally, I just want to mention on this last point that
    Juan Sebastian just mentioned in reuniting the families. We
    have found how difficult it is because Ortega also stripped
    passports from family members when some of the family members
    were trying to flee. So they do not have travel documents, and
    therefore they cannot even apply to our humanitarian parole.
        So I would urge everything that the U.S. embassy in Managua
    and others can do to help pressure to obtain those travel
    documents, particularly for the children, which we are
    finding--and to the community of democracies in the region to
    help provide a safe passage so that they can be reunited with
    their family members. Thank you.
        Mr. Smith. I yield to Chairwoman Salazar.
        Ms. Salazar. Thank you. Well, you know, I am not
    Nicaraguan, but I feel myself very close to you as a
    journalist.
        You have been here for what, 42 years? 43 years? 43. Jesus.
        Mr. Smith. 43. Who is counting?
        Ms. Salazar. While you were in Congress serving the
    country, I was a journalist. And I was in Nicaragua for many
    years, so I know the story very well. And I cannot explain to
    you how delightful it feels for me to be able to be in front of
    you. Really, as I said in the beginning, I never really
    thought--I had my doubts, and I am sure that you did too--that
    you were going to be able to get out of that dungeon. So now I
    am going to ask you a few questions because I do want to hear
    what happened.
        But my first question is to all of you. To both of you. It
    is that, Somoza, in his 45 years of dictatorship, never dared
    to touch the Catholic church. That was sacred. And Somoza was
    not a very good guy. So my question is, what does Ortega know
    or is willing to risk by doing what he is doing against such a
    powerful institution? You guys are the two most Catholic
    marianos countries in the hemisphere. So he knows that by
    touching the Catholic church, he is touching a very deep nerve.
    Why does he dare to do that? Either one of you.
        Mr. Chamarro. As I said in my testimony, the message of the
    leaders of the Catholic church were very powerful. Especially
    during April 2018, they defended with a strong voice. And
    Ortega does not appreciate that. He does not like criticism. Of
    course, this is something that started to build in 2018. He did
    not touch the priest in 2018. But then he sent into exile
    Monsignor Baez. That was the first sign that he was attacking
    the hierarchy of the Catholic church. So he started elevating
    the heat, so to speak, until he had no other choice than to put
    into house arrest the monsignor. But it is with the expectation
    that he will take the plane.
        And then the reason why the--Ortega in this press
    conference starts to--as Bianca was saying, he was very violent
    against the Bishop. So I think it is a sense of hate. He does
    not want to be criticized. I think that is a big mistake that
    he also did in the 1980's. He attacked the Cardinal Rual (ph)
    who later, you know, passed lines. So that was one of the
    mistakes. The other one was to get in trouble with the U.S. as
    well. So now he is repeating the two things.
        Ms. Salazar. Good. So he can wind up like he did in 1989.
        Mr. Chamarro. So I would expect that these mistakes are
    going to help to accelerate the demise of the regime.
        Mr. Maradiaga. I would like to add some perspective. I
    fully agree with everything Juan Sebastian has said. But in
    addition to that, it is very important to understand Ortega
    from his own perspective. It is very hard because none of us
    will ever think the way he thinks. But this guy is a tyrant.
    This guy is really willing to bet anything to push his plan,
    and his plan is nothing else but a dynastic dictatorship. And
    he knows that the Catholic church is the only institution in
    his way--standing in his way. That is one thing.
        Also, the second thing is that he--from his perspective,
    international community is weak. He perceives international
    organizations--and I say this based on the interviews that I
    have done to some people, some of them among the 222 that, at
    some point, were part of the regime and found the regime, as
    you clearly defined it, very satanic. And because of their
    Catholic faith, they decided to abandon the regime. So we have
    been talking to some of them.
        And Ortega believes that the international community is
    weak and postmodern, that he, in a way, can push this, and he
    is betting on establishing a regime in Latin America that I can
    only describe as something similar to North Korea.
        Ms. Salazar. The international community is the United
    States. Therefore, he is seeing the Biden administration as
    weak, which I have. And I am a very bipartisan member. I have
    asked the White House to pronounce itself and to say to Ortega
    and to Murillo, you cannot steal the country. And we have not
    heard it. I am glad that President Biden signed the RENACER
    law, but I think a stronger statement from the White House
    would have been helpful.
        So my question is, what stops Ortega from continuing to
    ransack the country?
        Mr. Chamarro. Well, first of all, the importance of putting
    more and more pressure on the international front. This report
    on experts mentioning, for the first time, crimenes de la
    humanidad, crimes against humanity--I think it is a step toward
    the final destination of all these cases in an international
    course.
        Ms. Salazar. What could really hurt him? Economic
    sanctions?
        Mr. Chamarro. I think the resources--the importance of keep
    sanctioning individuals that are responsible for the crimes,
    the judges, the police officers, the institutions that are
    controlled by the family, and that they are able to get
    resources to help their administration are fundamental.
        Ms. Salazar. So if we make a list of individuals from the
    police, the judges, people that are in charge of the repressive
    apparatus, and we create that list just like we did with
    Venezuela, will that hurt him?
        Mr. Chamarro. It is hurting already, I think. It is hurting
    because this is weakening the unity of the party because many
    of those officials fear after the individual sanctions what is
    going to happen to them and their families. So it is
    fundamental to find those cracks within the State apparatus,
    which I think--and this is something that probably Felix shares
    with me. We were in this jail, and we saw how weak the Ortega
    government was in the sense of support, even from his own----
        Ms. Salazar. Where did you see the weaknesses? Where did
    you see the weaknesses?
        Mr. Chamarro. I think the people from the government, many
    public officials, are really, really--they do not want to--they
    do not want this to continue. Many of them are Catholics. And
    that the force--the source of the force of the government of
    Ortega is having this through the arms of the army and the
    military. But there are thousands of people who are still
    working there for necessity. They are really fed up with what
    is going on. And that is a weakness that we perceive.
        Ms. Salazar. Either one of you, you were the only country
    in Latin America that was able to get rid of a communist
    dictatorship through free and fair elections, thanks to a guy
    by the name of Ronald Reagan and Julieta Chamarro (ph), right?
    What you guys used to call La Vida Maria.
        We know that the opposition has been decimated. The
    question is, what can we, the United States, do knowing that
    you guys armed yourself in something called the Contras, that
    you guys are very brave, and that maybe that will be the only
    way to get rid of another communist dictatorship, the
    Sandinista move?
        So my question is, do you see any possibilities of having
    Contra No. 2?
        Mr. Maradiaga. I hope not. And let me respond to your
    question by an extraordinary coincidence. 10 years ago, I met
    in Nicaragua this amazing young lady. She is now a special
    envoy on people with disabilities. Sara Minkara. I was on her
    board. And a week ago, when I went to Geneva, I saw Sara, and
    we are now talking about 2,000 Nicaraguans who have been
    injured and have disabilities. 10 years ago, we were having the
    same conversation with Nicas with disabilities because of the
    Contra war. So my faith, my idea--and all of us have shared
    that--is that we need to find every diplomatic measure to avoid
    a civil conflict because Nicaragua is very volatile.
        So back to your question, I think it is a clear and present
    danger. We Nicaraguans are not necessarily the most peaceful
    country in Latin America based on our history. 70 armed
    conflicts in 200 years. So it is very--it is highly likely if
    we do not find a Democratic and peaceful, nonviolent path.
        So what to do? Provide resources for these nonviolent
    voices. Find everything available in the diplomatic toolkit. I
    think that we need to push really hard on the pension funds of
    the Nicaraguan Army. It is something that has not been
    mentioned. I think that is another thing. And, of course, the
    RENACER Act provides all those tools. Thank you.
        Ms. Salazar. Thank you.
        Thank you, Chair.
        Ms. Jagger. Excuse me, may I, Congressman?
        Mr. Smith. Oh, yes. Bianca, go ahead.
        Ms. Jagger. Congressman Chris Smith.
        I would like to come back to Monsignor Alvarez to say,
    again, how deeply concerned I am for the safety and security,
    and to say the penitentiary and judicial authorities of the
    Ortega and Murillo regime are in breach of the United Nations
    standard minimum rules for the treatment of prisoners, also
    known as the Nelson Mandela rules, and are failing to comply
    with their obligation to report the Bishop's fate and
    whereabouts and to allow him to communicate with his family.
        In addition, one more time, I would like to say that I am
    demanding that the Ortega-Murillo regime satisfy the proof of
    life of Bishop Alvarez Lagos. And I also am urging Daniel
    Ortega to allow me to come to Nicaragua to visit the Bishop. He
    is an innocent man, and his only crime is preaching the gospel
    of Jesus Christ.
        I am appealing to him because, in 1979--and I think that I
    have said that before to you, Congressman Smith--is that Somoza
    allowed me to visit the jail, the same jail, where Bishop
    Alvarez is today. And that it will be a good thing, as he says
    that he is a Christian and that the person that he admires the
    most is Jesus Christ. This Easter time would be the right time
    for him to allow the Red Cross, myself, or anyone--any member
    of his family to visit him.
        But with regards to the question that has been asked about
    what else can be done, I think that Members of Congress should
    encourage the executive to implement the RENACER Act. Only 22
    sanctions have been issued, despite the fact that we know
    sanctions work because they reduced the regime's circle of
    power.
        Review the Dominican Republican Central America Free Trade
    Agreement. I am always surprised that I will be advocating
    this. That in full, given the lack of compliance to the labor
    and environmental agreements among other parts of the treaty,
    the suspension of the Nicaraguan regime should be considered.
    These steps and procedures as stipulated by the agreement
    should be followed, in particular, number 16 and 17.
        And the other important thing that I think that some of the
    other witnesses have mentioned is they require that further
    compliance to strict controls of the disbursement of
    international financial institutions. In particular, the IMF,
    who is the entity that sets the bar about which country should
    continue to receive funding. The IMF is not fully adopting its
    own governance rules as well as its framework of State capture.
        And U.S. Congress should concede that there are U.S.
    citizens affected by the removal of citizenship and private
    property, which is a violation of the Foreign Relations
    Appropriations Bill.
        I will say that, in particular, the USG needs to rapidly
    respond to the locking of bank accounts by Nicaraguan banks at
    the instructions of the Unidad de Analisis Financiero of the
    Nicaraguan government. And I think that it is important that
    the U.S., the European Union, Canada, Latin America, and other
    nations should coordinate efforts. The only dialog with the
    regime should be to agree on a short-term road to reach
    democracy.
        Ortega and Murillo only respond to pressure. And let's not
    forget that GBS is critical for the 60,000 to 70,000
    Nicaraguans who are today illegally in the United States. Thank
    you very much.
        Mr. Smith. Thank you very much.
        Ms. Wild.
        Ms. Wild. Thank you so much, Mr. Chairman. And thank you
    all for being here.
        I know I said it in my opening remarks. I think that it is
    notable that you are here for the inaugural joint hearing of
    the Subcommittee on Global Health and Human Rights, of which I
    enjoy the pleasure of being the ranking member, as well as the
    Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere. Obviously, this is a
    very important topic for us, the fact that this is our first
    hearing.
        Dr. Chamarro, I also want to thank you for your profound
    words about what we do here on Capitol Hill and its impact on
    repressed or oppressed people around the world. We try. Those
    of us on this committee or subcommittees strive for that. And I
    think it is really important that, at a time when the United
    States is very much involved in supporting another country that
    has been experiencing crimes against humanity, that we
    recognize that there are other countries in the world where
    this is happening and that we shed light on those that are
    lesser known.
        If I have time--just so you can be thinking about this, Mr.
    Maradiaga, because I want to go to Ms. Ullmer next. I did want
    to followup on your point about pushing on the pension funds of
    the Nicaraguan Army. But I do not know that I am going to have
    time for it. But I wanted to give you that as a heads up.
        Ms. Ullmer, you know, I want to talk for a moment--or ask
    you specifically about what is happening to civil society
    organizations in Nicaragua. We understand that at least 3,100
    such organizations have been shut down since 2018. And I know
    you know what civil society organizations are, but for the
    benefit of those who may be listening who may not fully
    understand what I mean by that term, these are voluntary
    citizen groups that are an important source of information in
    many countries for people to understand what is happening in
    their government, sometimes to challenge what is happening in
    their government, to monitor government policies, and hold
    government accountable. It ranges from professional
    associations and foundations, to independent research
    institutes, faith-based organizations, labor unions. These can
    all be considered civil society organizations.
        Here in the U.S., just so that our American listeners can
    relate to this, that would include the Rotary, The Conservation
    Fund, Human Rights Watch, the American Bar Association, and The
    Heritage Foundation. So civil society organizations play an
    important role here in the United States as well as in
    countries around the world.
        So with that as my preface, what I would like to ask you,
    Ms. Ullmer, is, can you describe the regime's crackdown on
    these kinds of organizations and what role it has been playing
    in the destruction of civic life in the broader authoritarian
    regime?
        Ms. Ullmer. Thank you, Ranking Chairwoman Wild. NDI was
    also stripped of its registration not too long ago.
        I worked in the country back in 2005, and we started seeing
    the Democratic closure since 2008. It did not happen--it
    happened rapidly since 2018, but I want to make that point.
    Because since 2008, civil society closures started to happen
    under Ortega-Murillo. It started with election observation
    rights. The election observers--national election observers who
    were fielding the largest election observation in 2008 from
    five municipal races were kicked out of the polls. These are
    citizens, right? It is all types of NGO's that have been
    closed.
        And there are two different types of repercussions. One is
    the humanitarian repercussion, which is extensive. Because of
    the Catholic charities, Caritas, and others who have also lost
    their registration, the NGO's that have been canceled are being
    cutoff from critical services. This includes water and
    sanitation programs, construction and maintenance of roads,
    medical care, psychosocial care, and elderly care. The NGO's
    focusing on promoting women's rights, indigenous rights,
    LGBTQI+ rights, providing space for individuals and groups to
    safely engage and work jointly on issues that matter to
    Nicaraguans.
        Under the regime, citizens and the few NGO's that remain
    will continue to need resources to prosper and resources that
    the government has taken away. But there has also been efforts
    for Democratic change, and these NGO's have also been closed.
        And so I call on Congress and others to please continue
    Democratic assistance. Many times, our own government and
    others shy away, right, when they think nothing can be done in
    the country. We have to continue to support Nicaraguans inside
    and those now that are on the outside to come to a consensus on
    what their Democratic future looks like.
        I would say that this support includes independent
    journalists, civic human rights, environmental, and youth
    activists among others, and the Democratic opposition to shine
    a light on the crimes against humanity that are being
    perpetrated by the regime, to monitor international financial
    investment bank loans, to disrupt information manipulation, and
    to generate a consensus toward a Democratic transition. Thank
    you.
        Ms. Wild. Thank you. I appreciate that.
        I want to give my colleagues an opportunity. So if we get a
    second round, I will come back with that question. But I also
    invite my colleagues, if they want to ask that question, go
    ahead. I won't be offended.
        And I yield back.
        Mr. Smith. Thank you very much, Ms. Wild.
        Ms. Kamlager-Dove.
        Ms. Kamlager-Dove. Thank you, Mr. Chair. This does not seem
    to be working. Is it? OK. This is odd. OK.
        Thank you, Mr. Chair. And I think we would all welcome an
    opportunity to dig deeper into this and go down. So I heard
    that come up earlier.
        I want to thank you all for being here today. And, of
    course, I want to recognize Mr. Maradiaga and Dr. Chamarro, in
    particular, for what you all have endured, for your resilience,
    for your truth, and for your bravery in sharing your stories.
        Ortega's systematic silencing of civil society and use of
    crimes against humanity to eradicate political opposition has
    been incredibly alarming and calls for a robust and targeted
    response. In any country, it is the activists, grassroots,
    NGO's, religious organizations, and civil society groups that
    speak truth to power and channel resistance to oppressive
    policies. And as we explore how Congress can continue to
    confront Ortega's authoritarianism, I believe any effective
    response to the regime's consolidation of power will have to
    involve supporting and securing space for civil society.
        You know, Ortega has arrested or exiled opposition
    candidates, regime critics, journalists, and human rights
    activists. To me, it sounds so much like Putin. And we have an
    obligation to stand up and say that.
        I would like to hear more about the repression that is
    taking place in Nicaragua. Widespread human rights violations,
    the shuttering of NGO's, and the expulsion of political
    prisoners is--unfortunately, it has been well-documented. But
    what is equally concerning to me and is less documented are the
    threats to the indigenous and Afro-Nicaraguan communities who
    already face disproportionate violence, persecution, and
    discrimination by their fellow citizens and the State which
    sanctions it.
        So, Ms. Ullmer, can you speak to how the Ortega regime's
    repression has impacted these vulnerable and historically
    marginalized communities, both those still in Nicaragua and
    those who have been forced to flee, and what recommendations do
    you have for Congress to better support human rights defenders
    in these communities?
        Ms. Ullmer. Thank you for your question. As you mentioned,
    Nicaragua's indigenous communities continue to suffer violent
    attacks over land disputes. Earlier this month, in fact, at
    least six members of a Nicaraguan indigenous group were killed
    and others wounded in an attack by apparent settlers. This is
    just the latest in a year's long string of assaults on
    indigenous communities on the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua,
    particularly the Bosawas Biosphere Reserve in the northern
    Caribbean coast.
        The attacks have left at least 63 persons dead, 46
    disappeared, and numerous tortured, along with houses razed and
    families displaced since 2015 according to the United Nations
    Human Rights Office and the high commissioner.
        Nicaraguan human rights activists and environmental
    activists highlight that many settlers moving onto the land are
    former soldiers seeking to raise cattle as well as partake in
    illicit logging and mining interests. The U.S. can sanction
    those military and those former military members who are
    committing these crimes against humanity and stealing their
    land and causing a dire effect on the community's livelihood.
    Thank you.
        Ms. Kamlager-Dove. Thank you. And I just have one
    additional question. As we have seen the attack on Brazil's
    capital in January, we know that illiberal tactics can be
    replicated, and strong men learn from strong men.
        So, Mr. Maradiaga and Dr. Chamarro, do you believe that
    other countries sliding toward authoritarianism, like El
    Salvador and Guatemala, might try to implement repressive
    strategies seen in Nicaragua? And what warning signs should we
    be tracking here that, you know, will allow us to see if they
    are indicating that they are going down this route?
        Mr. Chamarro. That is a very important question because it
    leads to what is going on in other countries. And my
    recommendation is to be aware of the smallest sign of
    authoritarianism. Ortega did not become the dictator that he is
    right now overnight. He basically started with changing this
    law, appointing these other people, and suddenly--or throughout
    the first years of his administration, he started to amass all
    this power. And many people in Nicaragua were silent about this
    and indifferent.
        So my recommendation to avoid things like Nicaragua
    happening elsewhere is to be very aware of signs of attacking
    the institutionality, the State of law, the rule of law in
    neighboring countries, and the respect for human rights and
    respect for rights in general, and try to make as much noise,
    as much problem as possible to those early signs because these
    are a symptom of--this is unfortunately--for Latin American
    history, strong men have been always present. Somoza is a good
    example, although Ortega has gone beyond what Somoza did.
        But it is a pattern that you will see in dictatorships
    being formed and developing. And the importance of
    international community, the U.S., to raise flags when things
    are happening at an early stage because it might be possible to
    save the situation while those institutions are still
    independent. But when you lose the independence of the
    judiciary, for example--which is the case that Ortega did it
    underground back in the 1990's by getting some judges in local
    districts like that. This was the first sign, and we did not
    see it, unfortunately, until it was too late. And now the
    Supreme Court is basically, you know, a puppet of Ortega.
        So to be aware of all these signs that are always present,
    you know, and defend institutions. Defend the rule of law and
    defend independence of powers. I think it is fundamental to
    keep an eye on that. And the role of NGO's, dealing with them.
    In democracy, institutions are fundamental.
        Mr. Maradiaga. If I may add, yes. The answer is yes. I see
    some signs. And to add to the very insightful points of Juan
    Sebastian, one is election transparency. Deborah and I worked
    for many, many years in Nicaragua on that particular point. And
    I think that that is the very first sign of the path toward
    dictatorship.
        And we saw that when many, many international organizations
    left Nicaragua. The U.S. was the only lifeline to local
    transparency organizations. So my own institute created in 2003
    by Mr. Javier Melendez and all the people who joined that
    institute, it was the first think tank closed and shut down in
    Nicaragua in 2018 precisely because of our work in
    transparency. So that is one sign.
        Also, persecution of civil society in media. Also, the
    disregard of fundamental human rights. For example, the
    presumption of innocence under the excuse of law and order and
    self-determination. I think that those are signs that are
    becoming more and more common.
        Also, I am sad to say that, as many other people, I came to
    Washington many, many times here. My first meeting was actually
    in 2007. And it was sad to see, in these same halls, many
    lobbyists paid by Nicaraguan conglomerates fighting against the
    ideas that, at that time, we were pushing with some other human
    rights organizations. So I think that monitoring very careful
    who lobbies for those groups here in Washington because these
    groups tend to have allies, believe it or not, even in this
    country.
        So I think it is very important to--with all due respect,
    you are asking me for ideas. So I think that lobbying for
    criminals and lobbying for these authoritarian autocrats is
    inexcusable. Thank you.
        Ms. Kamlager-Dove. [Speaking foreign language.]
        And I will yield back my time.
        Mr. Smith. Thank you very much.
        I would like to yield to French Hill.
        Mr. Hill. Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman and Madam Chair.
    Thank you for this combination hearing.
        And it is depressing to me that we, once again, are here in
    the Capitol hearing about the criminality and outrage created
    by the regime in Ortega in Nicaragua. But I am glad you are
    here. I am glad you stood up for your country. And I am glad
    you are sharing the story with the American citizens and with
    leaders in Congress. It is just a shame that it has continued
    like this.
        I sort of consider another--it is not a frozen conflict.
    You know, that is a European term. We have frozen conflicts in
    Syria. We have a frozen conflict in Venezuela. But this is not
    a frozen conflict. This is an active regime working against its
    own citizens in the western hemisphere actively against the
    interest of, not only the people of Nicaragua and the regions
    of Central America, but, of course, the United States. And I
    find that, as I said, depressing. But I am glad you are here.
        So the European Union and the United Kingdom have joined us
    in sanctioning the Ortega regime. And in my four terms in
    Congress, I have seen--we apply sanctions many times on many
    bad actors. But what concerns me is lack of enforcement. Not
    only by the United States, by the private sector in the United
    States, but also in Europe and in the United Kingdom in this
    particular example.
        And Chair Smith knows well, we see no better example other
    than the Caesar sanctions in Syria against the Assad regime, an
    area I know well. And in addition to that, we have got the
    Nicaragua Investment Conditionality Act. But again, we are
    using voice and vote. And this is good. We need to use voice
    and vote. Mr. Davidson and I serve on the House Financial
    Services Committee. We are big on telling the IMF and the World
    Bank how to operate. But the point is, we do not control those
    operations. And so we need to try to fill these gaps that we
    see in this.
        And that is why I am very interested, Mr. Chairman--the
    leadership by Chair McCaul and Ranking Member Rish--in pressing
    the governments in Central America to restrict lending from the
    Central American Bank For Economic Integration. This is an
    entity that clearly is not living up to its charter. And while
    we do not have, again, a voice or vote or board membership
    there, we can use our influence to press the governments that
    do, including Taiwan, to take significant action.
        Also, in 2021, the IMF general allocation of special
    drawing rights awarded the Nicaragua regime, the Ortega regime,
    $330 million. And I fought against that mightily in that
    timeframe, and I have legislation that I hope we can implement,
    H.R. 605, the Special Drawing Rights Oversight Act, which
    changes how the IMF awards special drawing rights and that we
    do not give central bank assets to criminal regimes. Russia,
    China, Iran. And the Treasury's response is, well, they are
    sanctioned so they cannot use them. Well, that is not how the
    world works behind the scenes. So I hope we can do that.
        And then obviously, I commend the Pope for his actions.
    And, you know, once again, what has happened in Nicaraguahas
    demonstrated that Christians are the most persecuted religion
    on the planet, and that includes here in this country as well.
    So we all pray for the church and Nicaragua and Cardinal Zen in
    China.
        So how do we strengthen our sanctions? I would like to hear
    from each one of you. How does the United States working with
    Europeans--how can we make stronger sanctions be more effective
    at pressing this regime?
        Please.
        Mr. Maradiaga. Yes. I would like to respond to that
    combined with a question that Congresswoman Kamlager provided
    before with the persecution of minorities as an example of how
    these regimes work.
        One of the conditions for loans and grants in terms of
    climate change, for example, is that local communities actually
    request its funds. And prior to my arrest, I was able to
    document that many of these requests were created by fake local
    community leaders. How does it work? Well, in Nicaragua, based
    on the autonomy law, these communities are organized based on
    their ethnic group.
        So Ortega simply asks for someone that calls himself part
    of an Afro-Caribbean community or the Mosquito community. They
    simply displace and erase the locally elected members of these
    minorities to simply fill the checklist of these international
    funds. And these international organizations say, oh, we cannot
    sanction or cut these funds in terms of helping the environment
    because it is our request for the community.
        So simply by looking to those little details, simply by
    pushing and pushing more and not allowing these autocrats to
    hide themselves in technicalities, I think would be a great
    step forward. Thank you.
        Mr. Hill. Thank you. That is helpful. Does anyone else want
    to add to that? And then I will ask a final question.
        Mr. Chairman, thanks for your willingness to let me be
    slightly over.
        Can we remove Nicaragua from the Free Trade Agreement--
    Central American Dominican Free Trade Agreement, and how do we
    do that?
        Ms. Ullmer, do you have a comment on that?
        Ms. Ullmer. Thank you. Yes. On the sanctions, we should be
    focusing more sanctions on lumber, gold mining, and energy
    production. That will threaten their economic interest. Not
    just of the regime, but also the military.
        Felix mentioned earlier, we haven't touched the military
    pensions. They have their funds invested in the United States.
    We need to focus on that. I think it is also going to send an
    important message to the neighboring countries where we are
    sanctioning as well.
        In terms of DR-CAFTA, yes, RENACER calls for the review of
    DR-CAFTA. I do think we should review it. Thank you.
        Mr. Hill. Thank you.
        And thank you, Mr. Chairman and Madam Chair. I yield back.
        Mr. Smith. Thank you very much, Mr. Hill.
        I would like to now yield to Mr. Davidson.
        Mr. Davidson. Thank you, Chairman, Chairwoman. Thank you
    for hosting this hearing. And thank you all for traveling here,
    and frankly for your fight to really make your country and our
    relationship with Nicaragua stronger, and really just to
    solidify the kind of values that really--so many people in
    Nicaragua hold, but sometimes seems at odds with the values
    that their government holds. So that is not uncommon around the
    world. The people are pretty good. Sometimes the government,
    not so much. And so thanks for fighting against that in
    Nicaragua.
        Kind of picking up where Mr. Hill left off, the Central
    American Bank For Economic Integration is a principal provider
    for Nicaragua's economic development, especially in
    infrastructure projects. And in the last few years, CABEI has
    lent Ortega $3.5 billion. So--out of a GDP, at least nominally,
    of about 14 billion. So a pretty substantial portion of cash
    inflow into the Ortega regime.
        Mr. Maradiaga, do you think the Ortega regime would be able
    to carry out its widescale crackdown on dissonance without this
    cash?
        Mr. Maradiaga. It would make it certainly more difficult to
    him. You know, these tyrants will always find all the tools of
    repression. But certainly, these resources are definitely
    helping him to continue the repression.
        Mr. Davidson. Thank you for that. So it is obviously hard,
    as multiple folks today have pointed out, for us since we do
    not have a board seat directly on these dollars. And, of
    course, we have lots of other things. Mr. Hill highlighted
    sanctions and other tools. They do not seem to quite be getting
    at it.
        I really, Ms. Ullmer, liked your comment about the pensions
    and other things that we might ought to take a look at. But
    within CABEI itself, how do we influence our allies, you know,
    to send a message--not just with human rights, not just with--
    but particularly, you look at, you know, Bishop Alvarez sitting
    in jail. In the midst of this, people are putting money there.
    And at some level, isn't it kind of additionally risky to put
    such a concentration--a disproportionate amount of CABEI's
    assets to be deployed in Nicaragua? How do we influence that as
    the United States?
        Mr. Chamarro. I think CABEI's Central American bank--so
    they have a rule of distributing all the available funds among
    the original founder members of the bank.
        So I think one fundamental issue is to ask CABEI to follow
    what many organizations throughout the world do, and that is to
    follow guidelines, environmental guidelines, human rights
    guidelines, for example, that are not present in this
    particular bank. So I think by pressing, politically speaking
    in international forums for CABEI to follow those guidelines,
    will be important.
        The other thing is that the money that CABEI lends comes
    from elsewhere. Some other sources. So to put pressure on those
    who finance CABEI to restrict their funding following those
    guidelines.
        And finally, I think a fundamental issue here is to ask
    CABEI to obey procurement rules, international procurement
    rules, because we have found that this is a source of
    corruption for contracts. So we want those rules to be
    constructed, of course, because it will help communities, but
    we do not want to--we want those companies who construct to do
    it following procurement guidelines, international guidelines,
    and do it in a competitive way.
        So we have found that many of the contractors there using
    CABEI's money are associated to the regime. So by following
    those rules--which I think are not that hard to ask because it
    is what most lending institutions in the world do--you know, I
    think we might find a way of maintaining those projects and
    making sure that the benefits go to the people and not to the
    regime.
        Mr. Davidson. Thank you for that. Very constructive, and it
    gives us a lot to work with there. But for me, just
    understanding--and maybe for my constituents back home--you
    know, you see a country like Nicaragua, an overwhelmingly
    Catholic country, what does Bishop--what does Ortega have to
    gain from jailing Bishop Alvarez and banning the way of the
    cross? What is his goal there?
        Mr. Maradiaga. Well, as we have sustained previously, it is
    the only institution that is basically stopping him from his
    plans. And Juan Sebastian had talked about this. And I think
    that Ortega has already done his mathematics on this. And he
    really wants to turn Nicaragua into the utmost authoritarian
    regime in the hemisphere.
        So he thinks--his calculation is that, even though the cost
    is very high, the international community will not act as
    thoroughly as we expect that it will happen. I used the term
    ``weak and postmodern'' precisely because that is the term a
    high-ranking Sandinista person who defected used in my private
    interview. He said that that is basically how Ortega and his
    wife proceed in terms of community. They think that these type
    of events that we are having right now--precisely because it is
    based on the rules of transparency, they think that it is
    basically politics. And he will not really react in a robust,
    strong, diplomatic measure against----
        Mr. Davidson. Shame on us. As our committee chairman has
    said often, weakness invites aggression. And you see that being
    reinforced there with Ortega.
        You know, it also seems like his approach with the Catholic
    church has kind of been validated with the way the People's
    Republic of China--you know, the Chinese Communist Party is
    kind of getting their own rule with the Catholic church. Is
    that essentially what he is trying to do, is create sort of a
    variation from the Catholic faith? As long as the regime
    approves it, it is OK?
        Mr. Maradiaga. Yes. In a way, it works in that way. And we
    are seeing things that are replicas of what has happened.For
    example, in China with Tibet. I am sorry for the comparison.
        But when we see, for example, that the Sandinista party
    many, many years ago--this is not recent--has been, for
    example, trying to divide the Catholic church and sponsoring
    high-ranking members of the church at some point that were not
    as straightforward against him, and creating also parallel
    churches of all denominations sponsored by the regime.
        So we are seeing a very similar play in other parts of the
    world. The average Nicaraguan really does not necessarily know
    all these very confidential things that the regime has been
    trying to do with some faith-based organizations until 2018
    when, basically, the mask went down. So for years, Ortega had
    invested many, many resources and tried to sell himself as a
    Christian in solidarity with the government. Cristiano en
    solidaridad. That is what he used to say.
        So for the average Nicaraguan, the use of Christianity and
    solidarity as part of the government motto implied that this
    support of local churches was part of his policy. But it was
    actually him trying to buy in some Catholic organizations and
    Evangelical organizations until people like Monsignor Baez or
    like Monsignor Alvarez put a stop to this. And that is what he
    is fighting back.
        Mr. Davidson. Yes, thanks for that explanation. It really
    makes a difference. And thankfully, here in America, our First
    Amendment protects not just the freedom of religion but the
    free exercise of religion. And we hope that you can freely
    exercise your full faith in Nicaragua. And it is an honor to be
    able to be a part of that with this hearing.
        Chairman, thank you.
        And thank you for your testimony.
        Mr. Smith. Thank you, Mr. Davidson, for your very incisive
    questioning.
        I would like to yield to Ms. Wild. We are going to do a
    second round, if that is OK by you. If you do not have the
    time, we certainly understand it.
        And--OK. Ms. Wild.
        Ms. Wild. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And I promise you I will
    be brief. Well, it is almost the dinner hour, and I am sure
    these people have a lot of--everybody has a lot to do. We are
    going to go off to votes after this, so we are just--so I told
    you I was going to come back to you, Mr. Maradiaga.
        Thank you, Ms. Ullmer, for referencing my question about
    how we push on the Army's pension funds. And you mentioned that
    their funds are invested in the United States. I am often
    amazed at the investments from bad actor countries that we see
    in institutions in the United States. Banking, investment
    funds, that kind of thing. And so much of it really seems to
    fly in the face of what we are often working against.
        But I wanted to give you the chance, sir, if you have
    anything to add to that about how do we push back on those
    pension funds.
        Mr. Maradiaga. Well, I think that Ms. Ullmer has clearly
    given concrete ideas, but I will add one more. Generals have
    been sanctioned, but not the Army as an institution. So that is
    something I would like to add.
        So we have seen sanctions from the U.S. and from
    international organizations and governments, not only to
    individuals or institutions. Why is that important? Well, the
    companies associated to the military pension fund were given
    plenty of time to prepare. So, for example, many of them sold
    their assets. They have a lot of cash.
        So by sanctioning the institutions, not only the
    individuals, many of these tools that they use to hide their
    money will be more complicated for them.
        Ms. Wild. Thank you, sir. I have to tell you, I authored
    and have introduced in every Congress that I have been in--the
    Philippines Human Rights Act was just reintroduced. The
    parallels are frankly quite amazing. The crackdown--and the
    PHRA that I just spoke of specifically addresses the fact that
    the U.S. provides considerable aid in the form of military and
    otherwise--it is a different situation. It is a different part
    of the world and all of that. But it does concern me very much.
        And so thank you for that information, both of you, and
    thank you for bringing that point up because nothing talks like
    money talks. Thank you.
        Mr. Smith. If I could, I would just say to Ms. Jagger, if
    you have any answers to any of the questions that have been
    posed, please. You are not here physically. We cannot see you.
    But please speak out because, again, we so deeply respect your
    opinion and your insights.
        I do want to also make a point that Jared Gensler has been
    very, very helpful in this whole process. And I cannot say
    enough--both of you gentlemen know that your wives went all
    over Capitol Hill. They testified and went to the press. They
    were so heroic and so persuasive. So I cannot thank them enough
    for what they did to make all of us aware and fully sensitized
    to the plight that you were enduring in prison. So that is just
    fantastic. Yes.
        Mr. Maradiaga. Yes, if I may add.
        First, thank you so much for speaking about the wonderful
    and very (inaudible) job that Vicky and Berta has done. Thank
    you so much. I cannot highlight how important that was. I would
    not be here if it were not for the people that listened to
    them.
        And, also, I do not know if Mr. Genser is here in the room,
    but I would like to appreciate his wonderful pro bono work, and
    also highlight the fact that he and his team with Perseus
    Strategies are preparing a very comprehensive report on
    political prisoners that I will invite members to read whenever
    the report is ready.
        Thank you.
        Mr. Smith. Without a doubt.
        Let me just ask one final question, then go to my
    colleagues. I know Ms. Salazar is coming back as well.
        Where is the United Nations in terms of raising its voice,
    not just with a report that shows up and collects dust
    somewhere, but where they really--like the U.N. Human Rights
    Council which, unfortunately, is often run by rogue nations--
    and I have been to Geneva many times and been disappointed by
    their lack--I was actually there parallel when Armando
    Valladares was able to get an investigation into the Cuban
    prisons. It was not very successful in terms of its
    implementation, because people spoke to the U.N. investigators
    only to be retaliated against. But I was there with him for
    about a week in the eighties when he was looking to get that
    done, and it was just amazing how, when you get somebody like
    you gentlemen, all of you, doing your work, the U.N. could do
    far more, it would seem to me, if they would become more
    focused on this. Let me--so that would be the first question.
        The second would be, I was very much involved with the
    former Yugoslavian court which, obviously, put Slobodan
    Milosevic--he died, as you know, before he was actually
    convicted. He never thought for a moment, because I met with
    him during those wars in Serbia, in Belgrade, and he never
    thought anybody would ever touch him, ever. He was so bombastic
    and arrogant. And then there he was, almost like the Nazis at
    the Nuremburg War Crimes Tribunal, awaiting his fate before a
    tribunal.
        In like manner, we saw in Rwanda, and especially in Sierra
    Leone, an amazing court in Sierra Leone. And I have gotten to
    know David Crane very well, the chief prosecutor in Sierra
    Leone. And nobody ever thought Charles Taylor would get 50
    years for his crimes against humanity that he committed.
        And I am just thinking, you know--and I have had David at
    hearings in the past. One of them was to try to, last year, get
    a General Assembly vote because the U.N. Security Council would
    be vetoed by China and Russia, to take up Putin. Yes, the ICC
    just came out with a very narrow attack on him, which he
    certainly deserves, with regards to Ukrainian children, but it
    should have been far more than that. It should have been a long
    time ago.
        But a hybrid court convened by the General Assembly, it
    seems to me--and it was David Crane who thought of that at one
    of our hearings. What kind of mechanism might exist to finally
    at long last to hold Ortega to account in a court of law? The
    OAS may or may not have that capability. I do not think it
    would do it. The United Nations, maybe not, unless it was a
    General Assembly resolution in a hybrid court where it convened
    to really bring forth these crimes against the Nicaraguan
    people, you gentlemen, your families. It could be--and all the
    deaths that he is responsible for, he and his top leadership.
        It seems to me--I am thinking of asking David to come back
    for another hearing to look at Nicaragua to see what we could
    be doing vis--vis a mechanism like the ICC, although I am not
    sure they would take it up, but some entity.
        Your thoughts?
        Dr. Chamorro. Mr. Chairman, I am not an expert on the
    United Nations, but I do know one thing. Ortega has been very
    arrogant, just like Milosevic himself, in saying that the
    Organization of American States is an instrument of the foreign
    powers and things like that. So by leaving or taking cases to
    the United Nations, you take away that argument that he is
    trying to use, because he also mentions the sentence of the
    Hague back in the eighties. And now you have got this same
    organization, the United Nations, that kind of gave him a
    sentence that he mentions all the time, now sentencing him now.
        So that takes wind out of the sails of his argument that
    the United Nations is this universal system that is going to be
    neutral, because basically the--the importance of the United
    Nations, in other words, is the political implication that he
    is facing. It is no longer this organization that was helping
    him back in the eighties, according to his rhetoric.
        So I think the--and, by the way, the Organization of
    American States have done a tremendous job within the last 3
    years. The permanent counsel has been dealing with the case of
    Nicaragua so many times, so many condemnations, and now we are
    in the phase that we have exhausted this line of work and now
    we have to go to the universal system.
        So I think it is a natural way of proceeding and also will
    be a political blow against Ortega. Obviously, we have the veto
    situations, China, Russia is obviously going to be supporting
    Ortega as well.
        Mr. Smith. Again, there is no veto in the General Assembly.
        Dr. Chamorro. Well, that is a very good point. And the fact
    that Putin was put on this international court system might
    raise the eyebrows of Ortega for future actions against him,
    because you have more--you have the commutations by this
    organization, independent organization of the killing, the
    assassinations, the use of violence, especially in April to
    June, July, 2019, that demonstrates a policy of examination of
    protestors.
        So here we have a very strong case in terms of--in the
    evidence gathered during those months regarding the
    assassinations, we have a very strong case for crimes against
    humanity for sure.
        Mr. Maradiaga. I want to recognize that we are running out
    of time, but just to add on the very insightful points of Juan
    Sebastian. Nicaragua is still part of the Roman Statute, so
    that makes things very complicated. However, member States can
    pursue action.
        So I would like to highlight the fact that Ortega is
    creating a tremendous burden for the neighboring country of
    Costa Rica. I want to acknowledge the fact that Costa Rica has
    been amazing as a country in receiving so many of our brothers
    and sisters into Costa Rica. But that is something that can be
    tackled in international courts precisely because of the
    collateral damage that Ortega is creating to neighboring
    countries. And that provides, technically speaking, a path.
        No. 2, the fact that we have been decreed Stateless opens
    another door in the fact that by not having actually a
    nationality, those of us who are now based in countries such as
    the United States or Spain, Argentina can pursue legal action
    in countries that have universal human rights systems that Juan
    Sebastian has described.
        So going back to your question, anything Congress can do in
    providing a fast track to those of us who have no nationality
    at this point and to Nicaraguan refugees here in the United
    States, so in the near future that legal protection of our
    status in terms of the situation of being Stateless can have
    very big implications for future cases in international penal
    courts.
        Thank you.
        Mr. Smith. I understand.
        Oh, yes.
        Dr. Chamorro. No, no.
        Mr. Smith. Bianca, you wanted to add something?
        Ms. Jagger. Yes, please.
        Mr. Smith. Please.
        Ms. Jagger. Congressman, I would like to mention that the
    importance of the U.N. Group of Human Rights Experts on
    Nicaragua that compare the Nicaraguan regime strategies to the
    crimes committed by the Nazi in Germany in the 1930's and
    1940's.
        I think that it is of critical importance that the mandate
    be renewed and to understand how important, especially, we take
    into account that a warrant of arrest has been issued against
    Putin.
        I would like to bring attention to the geopolitical role of
    Nicaragua, the geopolitical role with respect to Russia, with
    respect to China, with respect to Iran. For example, we have
    soldiers, Russian soldiers, today in Nicaragua. Nicaragua is a
    recipient of Russian military aid for quite a few years. Let's
    not forget that Putin was in Nicaragua about 3 years ago and
    that about a month ago the foreign affairs minister from Iran
    was in Nicaragua. It is not happening by pure chance.
        It is important to look at some of the studies that have
    been done recently that compare what is happening in Nicaragua
    with regard to some of the policies where they are stripping
    the nationality of Nicaraguan citizens to what is happening in
    Belarus. Is that being a combination that the Russians are
    looking forward? Would that policy have been really conceived
    by the government or by the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario
    Murillo, or is there a hand behind that that signals to Russia?
        But as well, it is important as well the role that China
    could play in Nicaragua. Recently, Honduras had broken
    relations with Taiwan, just like Nicaragua did a while back,
    and has signed and has established a relationship with China.
        So I think that it would be really important that we
    understand that, although Nicaragua is a very small country
    that does not have any oil, Nicaragua can cause a lot of damage
    and can be a threat to the region, not only in Central America
    or in the Americas as a whole, but as well as for the United
    States.
        And with regards to one of the members were asking what
    kind of sanctions could be imposed on Nicaragua, I would like
    to bring to your attention that Nicaragua is the third largest
    export of meat to the United States and that we are talking
    about the crimes committed against indigenous people. And why
    are those crimes being committed? They are being committed
    because they want to take possession of the land, and they want
    to use it for cattle ranching.
        Why is America allowing Nicaragua to be the third largest
    exporter of meat to America, meat that it is tainted with
    blood?
        Mr. Smith. I yield to my good friend and colleague, Ms.
    Kamlager-Dove.
        Ms. Kamlager-Dove. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
        I am having such a great time listening. I love Mr.
    Maradiaga's acknowledgement of climate change. And I feel like
    I just heard Ms. Jagger say we should become vegetarians, so I
    love it.
        I also really appreciated the chair's acknowledgment of the
    women, the wives. And I represent Los Angeles. A third of my
    district is all kinds of beautiful brown: Nicaragua, Guatemala,
    Panama, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico. And I learn so much
    from, you know, the women, las mujeres.
        So, Ms. Ullmer, I would love it if you could maybe speak to
    the disproportionate impact that this autocrat's policies have
    had on the safety of women in Nicaragua. And if there is any
    additional time, just any additional thoughts on how the United
    States could coordinate and work with other countries to have a
    Latin American-led solution to the crisis.
        I am certainly a fan of us supporting rather than trying to
    come in and save the day. That has some historical issues for
    me, but would love to hear.
        Thank you.
        Ms. Ullmer. Thank you for that question.
        The treatment of women in jail was different than the
    treatment of men. They were isolated. All of them were in
    isolation. Second, there is evidence of sexual violence as well
    as they were being hauled off to jail.
        The women are the bearers of the households. So by
    attacking the citizenship, by attacking and stripping them of
    their assets, and by declaring their heads of households or
    their spouses fugitives, they are unable to care for their
    families inside of the country.
        It is of no little consequence that the two women--three
    women, actually, who were first raided for the confiscation of
    their houses were all women, right. Sofia Montenegro, Azahalea
    Solis. These are women who have worked as feminists all their
    lives, worked with trade unionists, and Vilma Nunez, who is the
    premier human rights activist. They were all attacked, right.
    And they have had to--some have had to flee the country, but
    this is undermining society. They are tearing apart the social
    fabric of Nicaragua.
        To your second question, Latin American solution,
    absolutely. Brazil, I would note, at the United Nations taking
    on an important role in the Security Council, they have spoken
    out against the stripping of citizenship. I think they are a
    strong ally. Felix also mentioned Chile, Argentina, Colombia,
    even Mexico have spoken out against the stripping of
    citizenship. There are allies there, and I welcome more and
    more Latin American voices around us.
        Thank you.
        Mr. Maradiaga. If I quickly may add some point.
        Our families are--many of our families are still in
    Nicaragua, and they are used as hostages. But for mothers who
    are here in the United States with their children in Nicaragua,
    it is just heartbreaking to see that. Some of the children have
    been forced to go undocumented to neighboring countries to seek
    protection. They do not have any passports.
        So to your question, if something can be done--because the
    United States has already accepted these women into the U.S.,
    but their children are back in Nicaragua. And since their
    nationality was erased, they have no passports. And as much as
    the U.S. wants to help, if these children do not have
    passports, they cannot travel;
        So probably finding a solution, working together with
    neighboring Central American countries that have accepted these
    children, but they do not have documents to travel, so I think
    that that would be something very specific in which you can be
    very, very helpful to the former political prisoners who are
    women and they are having their children behind.
        Thank you.
        Mr. Smith. Thank you.
        I want to thank you so very much for your testimony, for
    your leadership, brave and heroic as it is. We need to do our
    part. We need to followup. There is much that you have conveyed
    to all of us that we need to work on in a bipartisan way, and
    we will. So I cannot thank you enough.
        And to Ms. Jagger, thank you for your leadership as well.
    It is extraordinary.
        But the hearing is adjourned, and I thank you.
        I would just note that members have 5 legislative days to
    submit comments for the record.
        Thank you.
        [Whereupon, at 6:20 p.m. The subcommittees adjourned.]

                                    APPENDIX

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                RESPONSES TO QUESTIONS SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD

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