Amid the ongoing crackdown on the Catholic Church and religious freedom in Nicaragua by dictator Daniel Ortega, Reps. Chris Smith (R-NJ) and María Elvira Salazar (R-FL) today introduced new legislation—the Restoring Sovereignty and Human Rights in Nicaragua Act of 2024 (HR 6954)—that would impose serious economic sanctions targeting the Ortega-Murillo regime for its egregious human rights violations.

            “The United States needs to step up and act quickly to implement all the tools at our disposal to bring an end to Ortega’s horrific abuses against innocent people of faith and political prisoners in Nicaragua,” said Rep. Chris Smith, the Chair of the House Global Human Rights Subcommittee, who has chaired four congressional hearings on human rights violations in Nicaragua—including the imprisonment of Bishop Rolando Álvarez—since July 2021.

            “The satanic regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo has stolen all humanity in Nicaragua. They’ve committed daily human rights violations, forced thousands of Nicaraguans into exile, and have cracked down on anyone who opposes them,” said Rep. María Elvira Salazar, the Chair of the House Western Hemisphere Subcommittee. “I am proud to co-lead a bill that would protect human rights in the country and re-impose sanction on the satanic Ortega/Murillo regime.”

            The Smith-Salazar legislation comes after the two lawmakers co-chaired subcommittee hearings in March and November of 2023 that included heart-wrenching testimony from political prisoners and prisoners of conscience who suffered Ortega’s persecution before being exiled from their homeland.

            “Our sanctions bill will impose robust and targeted economic penalties to combat the Ortega-Murillo regime’s continued and escalating persecution of the Catholic Church and religious freedom as well as its oppression of political prisoners,” said Smith, who also authored the Frank R. Wolf International Religious Freedom Act in 2016.

            Among its provisions, the Restoring Sovereignty and Human Rights in Nicaragua Act of 2024 would:

            · Impose strong economic sanctions targeting the Ortega-Murillo regime in response to its crackdown on the Catholic Church and political prisoners in Nicaragua;

            · Enhance sanctions on sectors of the Nicaraguan economy that generate revenue for the Ortega family;

            · Review Nicaragua’s participation in the Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement, known as CAFTA-DR;

            · Prohibit new United States investment in Nicaragua;

            · Require the Biden Administration to implement a coordinated diplomatic strategy to restrict investments and loans that benefit the Government of Nicaragua; and

            · Renew and strengthen the Nicaragua Human Rights and Anticorruption Act of 2018 and the Reinforcing Nicaragua’s Adherence to Conditions for Electoral Reform (RENACER) Act of 2021.

            Since December 20th, Nicaraguan police have detained a total number of 14 priests and two seminarians, as well as Bishop Isidoro del Carmen Mora—whose location and wellbeing still remains unknown. Bishop Álvarez, who was detained on August 19, 2022, has been unjustly imprisoned by Ortega for more than 500 days.

            “We must stand with those enduring unspeakable suffering at the hands of the brutal Ortega-Murillo regime,” said Smith, who has an outstanding request to Ortega from June 2023 seeking assistance in securing a meeting with Bishop Álvarez in Nicaragua. “Injustice need not be forever.”

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