Rubio Calls on Biden to Sanction Nicaragua for Human Rights Violations

In a recent blog post, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) has called for more pressure against the Nicaraguan totalitarian regime led by Dictator Daniel Ortega and his spouse Rosario Murillo. The call for more pressure comes after repeated instances of human rights violations such as unreasonable searches and seizures, silencing and intimidating political opponents, and most notably, the suppression of the Catholic Church. The Florida Senator is calling on President Joe Biden (D) to enforce sanctions on the regime.

According to the Catholic News Agency, there have been “more than 190 attacks against the Catholic Church, its bishops, priests, faithful, and houses of worship,” in which Rubio said included “a shameful act of arson and sacrilege in the Managua Cathedral,” and that “No institution that could possibly pose a threat to his (Ortega) tyranny has been left untouched.”

“Once again, I’m calling on the Biden Administration to sanction regime officials and suspend Nicaragua’s trade benefits from the Dominican Republic–Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR). The U.S. has the power to do so under the 2018 NICA Act and the 2021 RENACER Act, laws which Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ) and I wrote for situations just like this” said Rubio.

Many Republicans have questioned Joe Biden and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) Catholic faith due to their pro-choice stance. A few months ago, the Archbishop of the San Francisco (Pelosi’s Congressional District) Diocese Salvatore Cordileone barred the Speaker from receiving Holy Communion due to her public pro-abortion stance. A multitude of other dioceses later followed suit.

With the Catholic Church is facing persecution abroad, Joe Biden will have a decision to make. The last time he sanctioned Nicaragua was in January for their “fraudulent national elections orchestrated by their regime in November, further consolidating their control of power to the detriment of the Nicaraguan people.”

On August 19^th, the Nicaraguan Government kidnapped Bishop Rolando José Alvarez without cause.