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23–692PDF 2006

EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF CONGRESS THAT THE GOVERNMENT

OF THE UNITED STATES SHOULD ACTIVELY SUPPORT THE

ASPIRATIONS OF THE DEMOCRATIC POLITICAL AND SOCIAL

FORCES IN THE REPUBLIC OF NICARAGUA TOWARD AN

IMMEDIATE AND FULL RESTORATION OF FUNCTIONING

DEMOCRACY IN THAT COUNTRY

MARKUP

BEFORE THE

SUBCOMMITTEE ON 

THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE

OF THE

COMMITTEE ON 

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

ONE HUNDRED NINTH CONGRESS

FIRST SESSION

ON

H. Con. Res. 252

SEPTEMBER 28, 2005

Serial No. 109–123

Printed for the use of the Committee on International Relations

(

Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.house.gov/international—relations 

(II)

COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS 

HENRY J. HYDE, Illinois, Chairman 

JAMES A. LEACH, Iowa 

CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey, 

Vice Chairman 

DAN BURTON, Indiana 

ELTON GALLEGLY, California 

ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, Florida 

DANA ROHRABACHER, California 

EDWARD R. ROYCE, California 

PETER T. KING, New York 

STEVE CHABOT, Ohio 

THOMAS G. TANCREDO, Colorado 

RON PAUL, Texas 

DARRELL ISSA, California 

JEFF FLAKE, Arizona 

JO ANN DAVIS, Virginia 

MARK GREEN, Wisconsin 

JERRY WELLER, Illinois 

MIKE PENCE, Indiana 

THADDEUS G. MCCOTTER, Michigan 

KATHERINE HARRIS, Florida 

JOE WILSON, South Carolina 

JOHN BOOZMAN, Arkansas 

J. GRESHAM BARRETT, South Carolina 

CONNIE MACK, Florida 

JEFF FORTENBERRY, Nebraska 

MICHAEL MCCAUL, Texas 

TED POE, Texas 

TOM LANTOS, California 

HOWARD L. BERMAN, California 

GARY L. ACKERMAN, New York 

ENI F.H. FALEOMAVAEGA, American 

Samoa 

DONALD M. PAYNE, New Jersey 

ROBERT MENENDEZ, New Jersey 

SHERROD BROWN, Ohio 

BRAD SHERMAN, California 

ROBERT WEXLER, Florida 

ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York 

WILLIAM D. DELAHUNT, Massachusetts 

GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York 

BARBARA LEE, California 

JOSEPH CROWLEY, New York 

EARL BLUMENAUER, Oregon 

SHELLEY BERKLEY, Nevada 

GRACE F. NAPOLITANO, California 

ADAM B. SCHIFF, California 

DIANE E. WATSON, California 

ADAM SMITH, Washington 

BETTY MCCOLLUM, Minnesota 

BEN CHANDLER, Kentucky 

DENNIS A. CARDOZA, California 

THOMAS E. MOONEY, SR., Staff Director/General Counsel 

ROBERT R. KING, Democratic Staff Director 

SUBCOMMITTEE ON THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE

DAN BURTON, Indiana, Chairman 

RON PAUL, Texas 

JERRY WELLER, Illinois, Vice Chairman 

KATHERINE HARRIS, Florida 

JAMES A. LEACH, Iowa 

CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey 

ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, Florida 

CONNIE MACK, Florida 

MICHAEL MCCAUL, Texas 

ROBERT MENENDEZ, New Jersey 

GRACE NAPOLITANO, California 

GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York 

ENI F.H. FALEOMAVAEGA, American 

Samoa 

DONALD M. PAYNE, New Jersey 

WILLIAM D. DELAHUNT, Massachusetts 

BARBARA LEE, California 

MARK WALKER, Subcommittee Staff Director 

JESSICA LEWIS, Democratic Professional Staff Member 

DAN S. GETZ, Professional Staff Member 

BRIAN WANKO, Staff Associate 

(III)

C O N T E N T S 

Page

MARKUP OF 

H. Con. Res. 252, Expressing the sense of Congress that the Government 

of the United States should actively support the aspirations of the democratic political and social forces in the Republic of Nicaragua toward an 

immediate and full restoration of functioning democracy in that country ...... 2

(1)

EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF CONGRESS THAT THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES SHOULD ACTIVELY SUPPORT THE ASPIRATIONS OF THE DEMOCRATIC POLITICAL 

AND SOCIAL FORCES IN THE REPUBLIC OF NICARAGUA 

TOWARD AN IMMEDIATE AND FULL RESTORATION OF 

FUNCTIONING DEMOCRACY IN THAT COUNTRY 

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2005

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 

SUBCOMMITTEE ON THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE, 

COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS, 

Washington, DC. 

The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:05 p.m. in room 

2172, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Dan Burton (Chairman 

of the Subcommittee) presiding. 

Mr. BURTON. Pursuant to notice, I call up the resolution, H. Res. 

252, and ask unanimous consent that it be reported favorably to 

the Full Committee. 

[The resolution referred to follows:]

2

1

IV

109TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. CON. RES. 252

Expressing the sense of Congress that the Government of the United States

should actively support the aspirations of the democratic political and

social forces in the Republic of Nicaragua toward an immediate and

full restoration of functioning democracy in that country.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

SEPTEMBER 27, 2005

Mr. BURTON of Indiana (for himself, Mr. MENENDEZ, Ms. HARRIS, Mr.

WELLER, Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN, Mr. MACK, and Mr. ROHRABACHER) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the

Committee on International Relations

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

Expressing the sense of Congress that the Government of

the United States should actively support the aspirations

of the democratic political and social forces in the Republic of Nicaragua toward an immediate and full restoration of functioning democracy in that country.

Whereas the United States is strongly committed to promoting freedom, democracy, and the rule of law;

Whereas the Charter of the Organization of American States,

of which the United States and Nicaragua are Member

States, stipulates that ‘‘[t]he peoples of the Americas

have a right to democracy and their governments have an

obligation to promote and defend it’’;


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•HCON 252 IH

Whereas after experiencing a quarter century ago a revolution, loss of personal liberties, destruction of property,

and economic instability, the people of Nicaragua are

building a democratic form of government;

Whereas jailed ex-President Arnoldo Aleman and Sandinista

Liberation Front (FSLN) leader Daniel Ortega have entered into an agreement widely known throughout Nicaragua as the ‘‘Pact’’, to control the National Assembly in

order to exploit its legislative powers to undermine the

Nicaraguan Constitution, the Presidency of Enrique

Bolanos, and all institutions of representative democratic

governance;

Whereas Pactist politicians currently control and dominate

the Supreme Court, the Electoral Council, the Comptroller’s office, and the Human Rights ombudsman’s office;

and

Whereas polls indicate that an overwhelming percentage of

Nicaraguans oppose the Aleman-Ortega Pact, and tens of

thousands of Nicaraguans took to the streets in the past

year to call for an end to the Pact: Now, therefore, be

it

1 Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate

2 concurring), That—

3 (1) Congress—

4 (A) strongly condemns the Aleman-Ortega

5 Pact as detrimental to democracy in the Repub6 lic of Nicaragua, the future of democracy in

7 Nicaragua, and the stability of the entire re8 gion;


23692a.AAC
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3

•HCON 252 IH

1 (B) strongly condemns constitutional re2 forms passed by the Pact-controlled National

3 Assembly that stripped important executive

4 branch authorities from the Nicaraguan presi5 dency;

6 (C) strongly condemns the Pact-controlled

7 National Assembly’s actions to stack the Nica8 raguan Supreme Court with Pact loyalists,

9 some of whom have had their United States

10 visas revoked on the ground of corruption;

11 (D) strongly condemns the Pact-controlled

12 National Assembly’s efforts to remove demo13 cratically-elected President Enrique Bolanos on

14 dubious legal grounds;

15 (E) strongly condemns the Pact-controlled

16 National Assembly’s attempts to remove from

17 office senior officials of the executive branch on

18 dubious legal grounds; and

19 (F) supports the efforts of Nicaraguan

20 democratic civil society to create the necessary

21 conditions for free and fair elections; and

22 (2) it is the sense of Congress that—

23 (A) it should be the policy of the United

24 States to actively support the aspirations of the

25 democratic political forces in Nicaragua for a


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•HCON 252 IH

1 full restoration of democracy and the rule of

2 law in Nicaragua, headed by leaders who are

3 committed to democracy and who deserve the

4 trust of the Nicaraguan people;

5 (B) it should be the policy of the United

6 States to work with the international commu7 nity, including the Organization of American

8 States, to assist democratic forces in Nicaragua

9 to restore full democracy to their country;

10 (C) it should be the policy of the United

11 States to oppose all political elements that con12 tinue to subvert Nicaraguan democracy;

13 (D) it is critical that the 2006 elections in

14 Nicaragua are free and fair and provide the

15 winner of the election a clear mandate to gov16 ern the country; and

17 (E) the President of the United States,

18 acting through the Administrator of the United

19 States Agency for International Development,

20 should provide assistance grants to nongovern21 mental organizations in support of President

22 Bolanos’ call for the international community to

23 assist in and monitor the 2006 election process

24 in order to ensure the integrity of the process.

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23692a.AAE
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Mr. MENENDEZ. Mr. Chairman, reserving the right to object. 

Mr. BURTON. The gentleman will state his reservation. 

Mr. MENENDEZ. Mr. Chairman, I do not intend to actually object 

at the end of the day, and I will support the Chair in this regard, 

and only because of the nature of the importance of the timeliness 

of this issue am I supportive of waiving the regular order, but I do 

think there are moments in which regular orders need to be 

waived, and this is one of them. And so on my reservation, I would 

just like to say a few words about the resolution. 

It is a timely piece of legislation, one that I certainly support the 

Chairman on in bringing this forward. It seems to me that we have 

to reaffirm and support our efforts at democracy in Nicaragua and 

condemn factors within Nicaragua that are actively working to dismantle that democracy. President Enrique Bolan ̃ os was democratically elected by a landslide over Sandinista leader and former 

President Daniel Ortega. When he decided to take a stand against 

corruption and prosecute former President Arnoldo Alema ́n for embezzling $100 million in public fines, a crime for which Mr. Alema ́n 

has been convicted and sentenced and continues to be held under 

house arrest, he lost support of Alema ́n’s Liberal Party. 

In 2004, Alema ́n supporters within the Liberal Party revived a 

pact in the late 1990s with the Sandinistas, the purpose of which 

is to secure Alema ́n’s release from prison and to destabilize and undermine the Government of Bolan ̃ os. 

Unfortunately, the situation continues to deteriorate. The National Assembly, filled with Alema ́n’s supporters and Sandinistas, 

have already tried to strip Bolan ̃ os’ powers and reassign them to 

the legislature, a move that was declared unconstitutional by the 

Central American Court of Justice, and the National Assembly alleges that Bolan ̃ os committed election fraud and is trying to strip 

both him and his officials of their immunity. 

As OAS Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza said last week 

when the National Assembly stripped the interior minister and the 

deputy minister of agriculture and forestry of their immunity from 

prosecution, he said:

‘‘This decision acts against the possibility of resolving the current crisis and prolongs a situation of uncertainty that is increasingly causing harm to Nicaraguan society and to its democratic consolidation. Clearly, these actions are only meant to 

destabilize democracy in Nicaragua and place the well-being of 

an entire nation in jeopardy.’’

So I am in complete agreement with the Chairman that there is 

an urgent need to condemn the actions of Alema ́n-Ortega and their 

supporters. We must also be conscious of the impact an unstable 

political system can have on Nicaragua, exacerbating problems in 

a country where three-quarters of the population live on less than 

$2.00 a day, unemployment and underemployment are close to 50 

percent, and income inequality is high. A failed democracy will not 

only hurt Nicaraguans, but it will also be detrimental to the stability and security of the entire region. 

So it is in our own interest and our national security interest to 

support a strong and vigorous democracy in Nicaragua. To do this, 

we need to support free and fair elections in Nicaragua, and that 

7

is exactly what your bill does, Mr. Chairman, by providing support 

for NGOs to assist in and monitor the 2006 elections. We have to 

carefully evaluate what is going on in Nicaragua. To do that, we 

must be sure that we do not sit idly by and watch one of the region’s democraticall-elected leaders fail without taking action. 

Finally, I also want to say that it is a serious test for the OAS. 

In May, President Bolan ̃ os voluntarily invoked the Inter-American 

Democratic Charter and asked the OAS to intervene in Nicaragua’s 

democratic crisis. In June, the OAS General Assembly passed a 

declaration of support for Nicaragua. Secretary General Insulza led 

a high-level delegation to the country in an attempt to open a 

broad dialogue to resolve the crisis, and just last week, the secretary general announced that the OAS will be sending another 

mission to Nicaragua to help mediate the crisis. 

While I am relieved that Mr. Ortega has currently stopped pushing his supporters in the legislature to impeach Bolan ̃ os, it is still 

disturbing that Dante Caputo of the OAS envoy has so far been unable to restart the talks that fell apart in April. It is obvious that 

this dialogue still has a long way to go. 

A democratic charter was created to protect against unconstitutional removal from power, and this may become an instance where 

such action is needed. I urge the OAS to provide robust support for 

the Inter-American Democratic Charter and apply its principles to 

the situation in Nicaragua. 

Mr. Chairman, we spent decades singing the praises of democracy to our neighbors. Now we must be willing to speak out against 

its attackers and against those who would tear it from the foundations for its personal gain and power, and with that, I urge my colleagues to support the resolution and withdraw my reservation. 

Mr. DELAHUNT. Reserving the right to object, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. BURTON. The gentleman will state his reservation. 

Mr. DELAHUNT. I intend again to withdraw the right to object, 

and I am going to support this for many of the reasons that were 

articulated by the Ranking Member, but also because of your efforts and passionate interest in this particular issue. But I do so 

with one caveat. There is, in the final resolve clause, number E, 

language to the effect that USAID should provide assistance to 

nongovernmental organizations in support of President Bolan ̃ os’ 

call for the international community to assist and monitor the 2006 

election process in order to ensure the integrity of the process. 

I support that, obviously, but I want to be very clear. I do hope 

that impartiality and neutrality will be the position of this Government and that we do not have a tilt toward any particular candidate or any particular party. That is my caveat. That is my concern. You and I have discussed this, and I withdraw my reservation. 

Mr. BURTON. Thank you, Mr. Delahunt. 

Mr. MEEKS. Reserving the right to object. 

Mr. BURTON. Mr. Meeks? 

Mr. MEEKS. And I will remove my objection also. I just want to 

join in with Mr. Delahunt. I think that we need to be able to bring 

the sides together to urge them to negotiate the conversation between the two and not take sides, but I do think—and I applaud 

you for what you have done and the attention you have paid to this 

8

matter—I think it is important that we make sure that we keep 

democracy, and I just thank you, Mr. Chairman, for bringing this 

to our attention, and I withdraw my——

Mr. BURTON. Well, thank you very much. Let me just comment 

briefly. I will not read my statement because I think Mr. Menendez 

and my colleagues on the Democrat side of the aisle have stated 

the case rather well. But I was just in Managua last Monday, and 

when I left, I was under the impression that things were heading 

in the right direction, and the day after I left, the Alema ́n-Ortega 

Pact moved to take away immunity from three of the cabinet officers of Mr. Bolan ̃ os, and as a result, that indicated the next step 

might very well be to try to kick Mr. Bolan ̃ os out of office and circumvent the democratic process. 

I think, as my colleagues have stated, it is extremely important 

that all of the governments of the region, including the members 

of the OAS, do everything in our power collectively to make sure 

that we do not see a removal of democratic institutions and the 

rule of law in Nicaragua. It is extremely important. 

I was there during the early eighties when the Contras and Sandinistas were at war with one another. I saw the bloodshed. I saw 

the people who were homeless, who were driven into the streets, 

and it was just a terrible thing. We, likewise, saw the same thing 

right next door in El Salvador. The democratic institutions that 

have been created over the past two decades have been created in 

large part through bloody battles and hard-fought negotiations, and 

we do not want to see a reversal of that. 

Obviously, as my colleagues have said, one of the leading reasons 

why we see the kind of support for changes, radical changes, in 

government is the poverty that has taken place in many of these 

countries. It is very important, as my colleagues have said, that we 

pay attention to this problem and try to do everything we can, with 

our fellow and sister countries, to help eliminate that problem of 

poverty. Once poverty is eliminated or on the road to elimination, 

then I think people will realize that democracy is the only vehicle 

that will really, in a long-term way, work. Right now, a guy who 

needs food for his family, who does not have any food on his plate, 

is prone to listen to anybody and listen to all kinds of reasons for 

changes in government. 

So as my colleagues feel and I feel very, very strongly, it is important that we pay attention to the economic problems of Central 

and South America while at the same time trying our best to preserve democracy. 

With that, unless any of my colleagues have some more comments—I have my staff here to tell me what to read to make sure 

we follow the procedures. Without objection, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be reported favorably to the Full Committee, and 

if there is no objection, so ordered, and members may have 5 legislative days to insert any remarks on the resolution into the record. 

We will try to talk to the Full Committee and bring this up next 

week. With that, thank you very much. 

[Whereupon, at 2:19 p.m., the Committee was adjourned.]

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