Republican Senator Marco Rubio announced this Friday that he will pressure the administration of Democratic President Joe Biden for the United States to take action against the Nicaraguan government, which he referred to as a “criminal dictatorship that torture political prisoners.
Rubio offered this Friday in Miami a press conference together with leaders of the opposition to the Government of Daniel Ortega exiled in the United States. in which he highlighted the need for Washington gives the priority it deserves to the situation in Nicaragua and reproached Biden for not having taken “stronger measures.”
Sen. Rubio was joined by @RepCarlos during a roundtable with leaders of the Nicaraguan community to discuss the recent wave of repression against the Catholic Church and civilians in #Nicaragua under Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo’s dictatorship. ????https://t.co/8wFJev6vcc pic.twitter.com/k0cb54P7jn
— Senator Rubio Press (@SenRubioPress) September 2, 2022
Among the relatives of Nicaraguans detained in the country for clashes with the government was the human rights activist Berta Valle, wife of imprisoned former presidential candidate Félix Maradiaga.
The senator for the state of Florida, who seeks to renew his position in this year’s elections, assured that the Government “has the power to do it” under the laws already approved by Congress.
Rubio pointed out that as a second measure he will promote the holding of public hearings in Congress to denounce the situation of dissidents in Nicaragua.
“Today’s event is for the Nicaraguan reality to begin to be understood,” said the Cuban-American senator.
“Unacceptable” silence
Rubio stressed that the latest confrontation between the Catholic Church and the Government of Managua has made it clear that human rights are not respected in the Central American country.
the senator said regarding the house arrest of Bishop Rolando Álvarez that it is “unacceptable that the White House has not spoken out.”
He also stressed that Managua’s policies of allowing migrants to continue their passage to the US border without problems “affect the national interests of the United States.”
The senator stressed that Biden has had no interest in the issue of human rights violations in Nicaragua and that there has been an opportunity to sanction Managua through the Law to Reinforce Compliance with Conditions for Electoral Reform in Nicaragua (Renacer, in English). ).
On Wednesday, August 25, three senior members of the United States Congress condemned “in the strongest possible terms” the imprisonment of priests in Nicaragua, and demanded President Biden “the rapid and forceful application of the Renacer Law” against the Ortega and Murillo regime.
“There is no excuse for the arbitrary and unlawful imprisonment of Catholic clerics,” says a statement signed by Democratic Rep. Albio Sires and Republicans Mark Green and Michael McCaul.
The confrontation with the Catholic Church has landed seven priests in prison, shut down eleven Catholic radio stations and pulled three Catholic channels from subscription television programming.
Use of “Reborn Law”
“These actions are indefensible. We call on the Biden Administration to use all the tools at its disposal, including the fast and forceful application of the Renacer Lawto ensure the release of all political prisoners and protect human rights in Nicaragua”, the statement concludes.
The Renacer Law, approved in November 2021, tightens sanctions against regime officials, and empowers the US president to review Nicaragua’s participation in the Free Trade Agreement between the United States, the Dominican Republic and Central America (DR-Cafta).
Cuban-American congressman for the Republican Party Carlos Giménez, who was mayor of Miami-Dade County, participated in the press conference, in which he said that what has happened in Cuba and Venezuela is now “unfortunately repeated in Nicaragua.”
He denounced that the Nicaraguan regime and that of Havana favor human trafficking to the United States through Central American territory through a network of international cartels that control the border with Mexico.
“We are going to ask President Joe Biden to use all the tools and laws he has to put more pressure on the Ortega regime,” he said.
