“Este abuso del poder presenta retos directos a la seguridad nacional de los Estados Unidos, la estabilidad regional y suscita una profunda preocupación entre los nicaragüenses estadounidenses en los Estados Unidos. La comunidad internacional debe enfrentar esta situación con una respuesta coordinada”.
WASHINGTON – Los Senadores Bob Menéndez (D-N.J.), Presidente del Comité de Relaciones Exteriores del Senado, y Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Miembro de Más Alto Rango del Subcomité sobre el Hemisferio Occidental, hoy instaron a la Administración Biden a utilizar todas las herramientas diplomáticas disponibles para enfrentar al régimen de Ortega y sus tácticas, que cada día son más autoritarias y opresivas, para consolidar el poder y socavar los derechos fundamentales del pueblo Nicaragüense.
Citando la reciente ola de arrestos de dirigentes de la oposición, líderes del sector empresarial y de la sociedad civil, los senadores le escribieron al Secretario de Estado Antony Blinken urgiéndole a la Administración que expanda las recientes sanciones de funcionarios nicaragüenses y que trabaje más cercanamente con la Organización de los Estados Americanos para coordinar un rechazo multilateral más fuerte al ataque antidemocrático del régimen. La carta también alienta al gobierno de Biden a ir más allá al aplicar los protocolos delineados por el Proyecto de Ley para Reforzar el Cumplimiento de Condiciones para la Reforma Electoral en Nicaragua (RENACER, por sus siglas en inglés), que proporciona un marco bipartidista para la política estadounidense en respuesta al autoritarismo del régimen de Ortega.
“El régimen de Ortega está llevando a cabo una campaña de represión sin límites con el objetivo de demoler las esperanzas de poder sostener elecciones libres y justas en noviembre y así consolidar la tercera dictadura en las Américas”, escribieron los senadores. “Este abuso del poder presenta retos directos a la seguridad nacional de los Estados Unidos, la estabilidad regional y suscita una profunda preocupación entre los nicaragüenses estadounidenses en los Estados Unidos. La comunidad internacional debe enfrentar esta situación con una respuesta coordinada”.
Presentado en marzo de 2021 por un grupo bipartidista liderado por Menendez y Rubio, el Proyecto de Ley para Reforzar el Cumplimiento de Condiciones para la Reforma Electoral en Nicaragua (RENACER) propone una nueva estructura política para alinear estratégicamente las herramientas diplomáticas de Estados Unidos, incluyendo las sanciones selectivas, para promover y avanzar elecciones democráticas en Nicaragua en noviembre de 2021. El Proyecto de Ley RENACER también requeriría que el gobierno estadounidense aumente la coordinación de las sanciones con Canadá y la Unión Europea, amplié la supervisión de los préstamos de las instituciones financieras internacionales a Nicaragua y fortalezca los informes de inteligencia sobre las actividades del gobierno ruso en Nicaragua.
La carta de los senadores puede ser encontrada AQUÍ.
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As Political Crisis in Nicaragua Spirals, Menendez and Rubio Call for Biden Admin To Increase Pressure on Ortega Regime
“This authoritarian power grab poses direct challenges to U.S. national security, regional stability, and raises deep concern among Nicaraguan-Americans in the United States. The situation must be met with a coordinated response from the international community.”
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere, today called on the Biden Administration to make use of all available diplomatic tools to confront the Ortega regime’s increasingly authoritarian and oppressive tactics to secure power and undermine fundamental rights in Nicaragua.
Citing the recent wave of arrests of opposition leaders, business sector and civil society leaders, the Senators wrote to Secretary of State Antony Blinken urging the Administration to build on the recently announced sanctions targeting Nicaraguan officials as well as increased engagement with the Organization of American States to coordinate a stronger multilateral rejection of the regime’s assault on democracy. The letter also calls for the release of arbitrarily imprisoned political leaders and encourages the Biden administration to go further by applying the protocols delineated in the bipartisan Reinforcing Nicaragua’s Adherence to Conditions for Electoral Reform (RENACER) Act, which provides a bipartisan roadmap for U.S. policy to address the Ortega regime’s authoritarian power grab.
“The Ortega regime is carrying out a widespread crackdown aimed at demolishing hopes for free and fair elections in November and consolidating a third dictatorship in the Americas,” wrote the senators. “This authoritarian power grab poses direct challenges to U.S. national security, regional stability, and raises deep concern among Nicaraguan-Americans in the United States. The situation must be met with a coordinated response from the international community.”
Introduced in March 2021 by a bipartisan group led by Menendez and Rubio, the Reinforcing Nicaragua’s Adherence to Conditions for Electoral Reform (RENACER) Act proposes a new policy structure to strategically align the United States’ diplomatic tools, including targeted sanctions, to advance democratic elections in Nicaragua in November 2021. The RENACER Act would also require the United States government to increase sanctions coordination with Canada and the European Union, expand oversight of international financial institutions’ lending to Nicaragua, and strengthen intelligence reporting on Ortega regime corruption and Russian government activities in Nicaragua.
Find a copy of the letter HERE and below.
Dear Secretary Blinken,
The situation in Nicaragua is deteriorating at an alarming rate, and requires continued action from the Biden administration. The Ortega regime is carrying out a widespread crackdown aimed at demolishing hopes for free and fair elections in November and consolidating a third dictatorship in the Americas. This authoritarian power grab poses direct challenges to U.S. national security, regional stability, and raises deep concern among Nicaraguan-Americans in the United States. The situation must be met with a coordinated response from the international community.
Last week, the Ortega regime has indiscriminately jailed leaders of the political opposition, business sector, and civil society at an accelerating pace. The regime arbitrarily jailed presidential candidates Arturo Cruz, Félix Maradiaga, and Juan Sebastián Chamorro and placed candidate Cristiana Chamorro under house arrest on spurious charges. Using language recycled from the 1980s to justify a growing campaign of repression, the Ortega regime is systematically silencing the democratic voices that are critical of its authoritarian actions. Opposition, civil society, and private sectors leaders must be released immediately.
In 2018, the U.S. Congress approved the Nicaragua Investment Conditionality Act, which provided the executive branch with the authority and responsibility to impose targeted sanctions on Nicaraguan officials that are undermining democracy in that country. The Biden administration’s announcement of new targeted sanctions against Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo’s daughter and three of the regime’s financial and political operators mark an important response, but additional steps are needed.
In March, we introduced the bipartisan Reinforcing Nicaragua’s Adherence to Conditions for Electoral Reform (RENACER) Act, which lays out clear steps for U.S. policy—and provides a road map for actions that the Biden administration can take today to address the Ortega regime’s crackdown. First, we need to align U.S. diplomacy and our targeted sanctions to hold accountable the regime officials that have dismantled prospects for democratic elections in Nicaragua. This approach must be coordinated with our closest partners in Canada and the European Union; our sanctions are most effective when aligned with actions by our allies.
Second, the United States must strengthen its approach to dealing with the corruption and kleptocracy perpetrated by members of the Ortega regime’s inner circle and their enablers—including the president’s and vice-president’s family. The State Department has tools to ensure that individuals facilitating the regime’s financial malfeasance are no longer welcome in the United States. Finally, we must expand aggressive oversight of multilateral lending to Nicaragua to make certain that the Ortega regime and its enablers do not benefit from multilateral lending, while safeguarding support for the humanitarian needs of the Nicaraguan people.
As the countries of the Americas prepare to recognize the twentieth anniversary of the Inter-American Democratic Charter in September, we must expand U.S. efforts to address the fraying of democratic consensus in our hemisphere. Utilizing the principles outlined in Articles 20 and 21 of the Charter, I urge you to work with the Organization of American States and Secretary General Luis Almagro to send a clear signal that OAS member states reject the Ortega regime’s assault on democracy and call for the immediate release of opposition, civil society, and private sector leaders in Nicaragua.
Thank you for attention to this urgent matter and for using all available diplomatic tools to send a strong message of U.S. support for democracy in our hemisphere.
Sincerely,
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As Political Crisis in Nicaragua Spirals, Menendez and Rubio Call for Biden Admin To Increase Pressure on Ortega Regime
“This authoritarian power grab poses direct challenges to U.S. national security, regional stability, and raises deep concern among Nicaraguan-Americans in the United States. The situation must be met with a coordinated response from the international community.”