[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:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
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:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
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:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
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:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
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
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
RESPONSES TO QUESTIONS SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
[all]