Sec. 2. Findings

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Congress makes the following findings: Since April 18, 2018, protesters in Nicaragua have demanded transparent government without corruption, access to necessities such as food and medicines, and free, fair, multiparty elections. The World Bank reported that Nicaragua’s economy contracted by 3.8 percent in 2018, and expects the economic downturn to continue to an estimated decrease in growth of 5 percent in 2019. The United States Department of State’s Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2018 stated that between the protests of April 18, 2018, and late November 2018, at least 325 persons died, more than 2,000 were injured, and hundreds more were illegally detained and tortured, while more than 52,000 fled to neighboring countries.

The United States Department of State’s Country Reports on Human Rights for 2018 stated that [h]uman rights deteriorated markedly during the year. Issues included reports of unlawful or arbitrary killings committed by the government or its agents; forced disappearance by parapolice forces; torture; physical abuse, including rape, by government officials; and arbitrary arrest and detention. There were harsh and life-threatening prison conditions; political prisoners; arbitrary and unlawful interference with privacy; arrests of journalists, censorship, site blocking, and criminal libel; and substantial interference with the rights of peaceful assembly and freedom of association, including attacks on the Roman Catholic Church and Church officials.

The government stripped the legal status of several nongovernmental organizations

(NGOs)and civil society organizations, seizing their assets and preventing them from operating. There was widespread corruption; trafficking in persons; attacks against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) persons; discrimination against ethnic minorities and indigenous communities; and child labor. . On February 22, 2019, Michelle Bachelet, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, said, I am deeply concerned about the apparent lack of due process and increasing criminalization of dissent in Nicaragua. The arrest and jailing of opposition leaders, possibly in some cases as a reprisal for cooperating with the UN, clearly hinders the creation of an environment conducive to holding a genuine and inclusive dialogue—which the Government says it wants. … I also call on the authorities to release all those deprived of their liberty in connection with their intrinsic right to peaceful protest and dissent, and to ensure people who cooperate with the UN and other human rights organizations do not face reprisals. It is a fundamental tenet of democracy that people from all parts of society should be able to engage freely in debate about the future of their country, without fear of arrest or intimidation. . On April 4, 2019, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights of the Organization of American States condemned the human rights abuses perpetrated by the Ortega regime, stating that, [t]he acts of repression in question include illegal arbitrary arrests, the prohibition of all forms of social demonstration of protest, the refusal to re-establish the legal status of civil society organizations, and the increasing repression of people who are being deprived of their liberty. The IACHR once more calls for repression in the country to cease and for public liberties to be restored. . International human rights groups such as Human Rights Watch, the Committee to Protect Journalists, and Reporters Without Borders have highlighted the Ortega regime’s efforts to silence independent media. For example, offices of Radio Dario were burned down after the protests began in April 2018, Nicaragua’s most widely read newspaper La Prensa’s printing materials were confiscated in January 2019, and numerous journalists were arrested and imprisoned since the protests began, while death threats and other intimidation tactics have forced dozens of journalists to flee the country. In response to corruption and human rights abuses, the United States Department of Treasury has sanctioned six Nicaraguans for corruption and gross violations of human rights. Those sanctioned include the Vice President, who is the wife of corrupt President Daniel Ortega, as well as the former President of the Supreme Electoral Council, the Director of the Nicaraguan National Police, a National Security Advisor to the President, the Political Secretary for the municipality of Managua, and the Treasurer of the Sandinista Party.