The Ortega-Murillo (Sandinista) regime in Nicaragua's persecution of Christians reaches not only Catholics but Protestants as well, cracking down on the American Evangelical Mountain Gateway missionary organization. As a result, Senator Rick Scott (R-FL) led a group of Senators in a letter demanding the Biden Administration place additional sanctions on Nicaragua in response.
Sen. Scott's letter and 1819 News detailed how Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega and his Vice President/wife Rosario Murillo arrested 11-13 Mountain Gateway pastors in December, despite the organization having earned government approval to operate within the country, having its financial records heavily scrutinized.
However, this did not prevent the Ortega-Murillo regime from arresting the pastors and accusing Mountain Gateway of money laundering and other financial crimes.
"The unjust imprisonment of these religious leaders further confirms the Ortega-Murillo regime’s corruption and coordination with the regimes in Venezuela and Cuba in an oppressive campaign of destabilization in the Western Hemisphere," Sen. Scott wrote.
Additionally, Scott cited a report by the United Nations Group of Human Rights Experts on Nicaragua released at the end of February, which concluded the rights violations committed by the Ortega-Murillo regime amount to crimes against humanity and demanded the dictatorship be held accountable.
The Florida Senator agreed in his letter, urging the placement of additional sanctions on Nicaragua.
"This administration must stand strong against the thugs who are oppressing the people of Nicaragua, as well as Venezuela and Cuba, and we must stand with the Nicaraguan people and pressure the Ortega-Murillo regime until religious freedom and human rights is restored, democracy upheld and the release of all political prisoners is secured," Scott concluded.
Other members of Florida's Congressional delegation have been vocal critics of the Sandinistas, condemning their persecution of Catholics in Nicaragua and demanding the release of political prisoners, which include Church clergy such as Bishop Rolando Jose Alvarez Lagos, whose release was demanded by Scott's colleague Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) in December.
More recently, Representative Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL) filed a bill introducing additional sanctions on Nicaragua in January, flat-out calling the Ortega-Murillo regime "satanic."
