Salazar Proposes Law Responding to Nicaragua’s Kidnapping of Catholic Clergy

US Representative Maria-Elvira Salazar (R-Fl) has filed a bill to reauthorize sanctions on Nicaragua in light of the Nicaraguan government’s recent hostile acts towards Catholic officials. 

Since December 2023, Nicaraguan police have detained a total of 16 priests and seminarians, including Bishops Isidoro del Carmen Mora and Rolando Jose Álvarez Lagos.

Nicaraguan Dictator Naiel Ortega has been in office for four consecutive terms via elections considered illegitimate by the United States and allies. The regime has been accused of numerous human rights violations.

Representative Salazar’s Restoring Sovereignty and Human Rights in Nicaragua Act would reauthorize and update expired sanctions on Nicaragua. 

The act would prevent international financial institutions from granting loans to Nicaragua unless effective steps to hold free, fair, and transparent elections are taken by the government.

Additionally, sanctions specifically tailored to restrict sectors of the Nicaraguan economy generating revenue for the Ortega regime, such as gold mining, would be levied. 

Salazar described Ortega’s government via press release as a “satanic regime…who have jailed priests, closed Catholic Universities, and even prohibited jailed Bishops from praying.”

Salazar’s act would also include language to automatically impose added sanctions on Ortega’s regime if current persecution of religious leaders and political dissenters continues. 

New investments into Nicaragua by any US person would also be prohibited and a review of Nicaragua’s participation in the Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement would be conducted. 

Salazar and many Republicans have repeatedly condemned the Ortega regime’s human rights violations and undemocratic practices. 

Last August, a bevy of Florida legislators released a flurry of criticism towards Ortega after a Catholic Church was ransacked. 

President Joe Biden’s White House has officially condemned Ortega’s actions and expanded pre-existing sanctions levied on the country and its leaders.