[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 41 (Monday, March 2, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1259-S1260]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  SENATE RESOLUTION 525--EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF THE SENATE THAT THE 
  UNITED STATES SHOULD CONTINUE TO SUPPORT THE PEOPLE OF NICARAGUA IN 
THEIR PEACEFUL EFFORTS TO PROMOTE THE RESTORATION OF DEMOCRACY AND THE 
 DEFENSE OF HUMAN RIGHTS, AND USE THE TOOLS UNDER UNITED STATES LAW TO 
 INCREASE POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC PRESSURE ON THE GOVERNMENT OF DANIEL 
                                 ORTEGA

  Mr. CRUZ (for himself, Mr. Menendez, Mr. Rubio, Mr. Murphy, Mr. 
Perdue, and Mr. Cardin) submitted the following resolution; which was 
referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations:

                              S. Res. 525

       Whereas the government of Daniel Ortega has concentrated 
     power and brought about the progressive deterioration of 
     democratic conditions in Nicaragua;
       Whereas recent elections in Nicaragua, including the 2016 
     presidential election, have been marred by irregularities and 
     characterized by significant restrictions on the 
     participation of opposition political parties and the absence 
     of credible international and local electoral observers;
       Whereas Nicaraguan security forces, paramilitary, police, 
     and other actors working under the direction of the Ortega 
     regime committed gross violations of human rights and acts of 
     repression, resulting in more than 325 deaths, over 2,000 
     injuries, and at least 800 arbitrary detentions during the 
     peaceful protests that took place in 2018, according to the 
     Organization of American States;
       Whereas a report by the Interdisciplinary Group of 
     Independent Experts, appointed by the Organization of 
     American States Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, 
     determined that the Ortega regime used deliberate, lethal 
     force against protesters and committed acts of torture that 
     meet the international legal standard of crimes against 
     humanity;
       Whereas an estimated 82,000 Nicaraguans fled the country 
     between April 2018 and October 2019, according to the United 
     Nations High Commissioner for Refugees;
       Whereas the Government and people of Costa Rica have 
     graciously accepted nearly 70,000 Nicaraguans, including 
     enrolling children in public primary schools, allowing access 
     to legal employment, and making efforts to strengthen the 
     capacity of Costa Rica's asylum system;
       Whereas the Ortega government failed to comply with its 
     commitment to release all political prisoners, releasing just 
     392 people, of which 286 were released to house arrest with 
     charges still pending;
       Whereas Nicaragua's Civic Alliance for Justice and 
     Democracy alleges that there remain over 150 political 
     prisoners held in Nicaraguan prisons as of November 29, 2019;
       Whereas a United States citizen and Navy veteran, 57-year-
     old Eddy Montes, was shot and killed while in the custody of 
     the Nicaraguan police at La Modelo Prison on May 16, 2019;
       Whereas the government of Daniel Ortega has severely 
     restricted freedom of the press by closing five local 
     television stations, attacking independent radio stations, 
     arbitrarily detaining journalists, and arbitrarily 
     restricting print supplies from entering the country;
       Whereas, beginning on November 14, 2019, Nicaraguan police 
     conducted attacks on churches throughout the country, cut 
     water to hunger strikers barricaded inside a church in 
     Masaya, and arrested 13 people attempting to bring them 
     water;
       Whereas doctors, lawyers, academics, and other 
     professionals in Nicaragua face persecution and, in some 
     cases torture, based on suspicion of aiding or sympathizing 
     with protestors;
       Whereas the Ortega regime has violated the economic and 
     political rights of indigenous communities, Afro-descendent 
     populations, rural campesinos, land rights defenders, and 
     individuals living in the Caribbean Autonomous Regions of 
     Nicaragua;
       Whereas, on November 27, 2018, Executive Order 13851 was 
     issued, which blocks the property of certain persons involved 
     in the Nicaraguan crisis, and its application was expanded by 
     the Office of Foreign Asset Control of the Department of the 
     Treasury on September 4, 2019;
       Whereas the bipartisan Nicaragua Human Rights and 
     Anticorruption Act of 2018 (Public Law 115-335; commonly 
     referred to as the ``NICA Act'') was signed into law on 
     December 20, 2018, imposing restrictions on lending to the 
     Nicaraguan government by international financial institutions 
     and requiring the President to sanction non-United States 
     persons implicated in egregious human rights abuses and 
     corruption in Nicaragua;
       Whereas the NICA Act expresses the support of Congress for 
     a negotiated solution to the Nicaraguan crisis and includes 
     an annual certification to waive sanctions if the Ortega 
     government takes steps to restore democratic governance and 
     uphold human rights;
       Whereas, in the absence of such steps, the Department of 
     State and the Department of the Treasury have imposed 
     targeted sanctions on Nicaraguan officials and entities, 
     including First Lady and Vice President Rosario Murillo, 
     Daniel Ortega's sons, Rafael Ortega Murillo and Laureano 
     Ortega Murillo, and Nicaragua's Banco Corporativo (Bancorp);
       Whereas, in June 2019, the Government of Canada imposed 
     sanctions on 12 members of the Government of Nicaragua 
     engaged in gross and systemic human rights violations; and
       Whereas, in advance of any future election, the Government 
     of Nicaragua urgently needs to undertake electoral reforms, 
     including the appointment of independent new magistrates to 
     the Supreme Electoral Council, the restoration of a 50 
     percent plus one threshold for the presidential election, the 
     establishment of a second round of voting if the electoral 
     threshold is not reached, the establishment of a detailed 
     electoral calendar, and stronger observation by political 
     parties: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) calls on the Government of Nicaragua to immediately 
     release all political prisoners without conditions and cease 
     all acts of violence, repression, and intimidation against 
     dissenting voices in Nicaragua;
       (2) urges the Ortega government to respect Nicaraguans' 
     constitutional rights and implement the electoral reforms 
     mentioned

[[Page S1260]]

     above in order to permit the holding of free, fair, and 
     transparent elections;
       (3) encourages the United States Government to align United 
     States sanctions with diplomatic efforts to advance electoral 
     reforms that could lead to free, fair, and transparent 
     elections in Nicaragua;
       (4) expresses full support for the people of Nicaragua, 
     Nicaraguan independent media, and Nicaraguan civil society 
     organizations that are working for a peaceful return to 
     democratic order in Nicaragua;
       (5) supports the efforts of the United States Government to 
     apply pressure on the Ortega government in order hold 
     accountable those actors involved in human rights abuses, 
     acts of significant corruption, and the undermining of 
     democratic institutions in Nicaragua;
       (6) urges the international community to hold the Ortega 
     government accountable for human rights abuses and to 
     restrict its access to foreign financing unless or until it 
     allows for free, fair, and transparent elections monitored by 
     credible international and local electoral observers; and
       (7) urges the United States Government to investigate and 
     hold accountable those responsible for the death of Eddy 
     Montes, a United States citizen and Navy veteran, who was 
     shot and killed while in the custody of the Nicaraguan police 
     at La Modelo Prison on May 16, 2019.

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