Title: Nicaragua Human Rights and Anticorruption Act of 2018
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
Nicaragua Human Rights and Anticorruption Act of 2018
This bill directs the President to impose through December 31, 2021, property-blocking and U.S. entry sanctions against any foreign person, including any current or former Nicaraguan government official, who:
The President may waive such sanctions for a one-year period if the Department of State certifies to Congress that Nicaragua is taking steps to strengthen democracy, combat corruption, and protect the rights of journalists and opposition political parties.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3233 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

<DOC>






115th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 3233

 To impose sanctions with respect to persons responsible for violence 
     and human rights abuses in Nicaragua, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             July 18, 2018

Mr. Menendez (for himself, Mr. Cruz, Mr. Nelson, Mr. Rubio, Mr. Durbin, 
   Mr. Perdue, Mr. Leahy, Mr. Kaine, Mr. Cardin, Mr. Cotton, and Mr. 
    Cornyn) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
             referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To impose sanctions with respect to persons responsible for violence 
     and human rights abuses in Nicaragua, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.

    (a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Nicaragua Human 
Rights and Anticorruption Act of 2018''.
    (b) Table of Contents.--The table of contents for this Act is as 
follows:

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
Sec. 2. Findings.
Sec. 3. Sense of Congress on advancing a negotiated solution to 
                            Nicaragua's crisis.
Sec. 4. Imposition of sanctions with respect to persons responsible for 
                            human rights violations and corruption in 
                            Nicaragua.
Sec. 5. Certification and waiver.
Sec. 6. Report on human rights violations and corruption in Nicaragua.
Sec. 7. Definitions.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) On April 19, 2018, protests began in Managua, 
        Nicaragua, as a result of changes made to the social security 
        system by the Government of Nicaragua that would have raised 
        workers' contributions and cut retirees' pensions.
            (2) The Government of Nicaragua has responded to 
        antigovernment protests with excessive force and killings 
        perpetrated by its public security forces and, as of July 17, 
        2018, more than 273 people have been killed in the context of 
        those protests, according to the Inter-American Commission on 
        Human Rights of the Organization of American States.
            (3) On May 21, 2018, the Inter-American Commission on Human 
        Rights issued a statement that described the excessive use of 
        force by Nicaraguan security forces and armed irregular groups 
        that resulted in ``dozens of persons killed and hundreds 
        wounded; illegal and arbitrary detentions; practices of 
        torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment; censorship and 
        attacks on the press; and other forms of intimidation''.
            (4) On May 29, 2018, Amnesty International released a 
        report entitled ``Shoot to Kill: Nicaragua's Strategy to 
        Repress Protest'', which documented the lethal use of weapons, 
        specifically noting that gunshots fired by pro-government 
        groups targeted specific individuals.
            (5) Transparency International's 2017 Corruption 
        Perceptions Index ranks Nicaragua as tied for 151 of 180, the 
        third worst ranking for a country in the Western Hemisphere, 
        after Venezuela and Haiti.
            (6) The Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2017 
        of the Department of State notes, with respect to Nicaragua, 
        that actions by the ruling Sandinista National Liberation Front 
        party have resulted in the de facto concentration of power in a 
        single party, with an authoritarian executive branch exercising 
        significant control over the legislative, judicial, and 
        electoral functions of the Government of Nicaragua.
            (7) The 2017 report of the Department of State also stated 
        with respect to Nicaragua that ``the most significant human 
        rights abuses included reports of arbitrary or unlawful 
        killings; almost complete lack of judicial independence; 
        unlawful interference with privacy; multiple obstacles to 
        freedom of speech and the press, including government 
        intimidation, and harassment of and threats against journalists 
        and independent media; and partisan restrictions on freedom of 
        peaceful assembly''.
            (8) On July 5, 2018, pursuant to the Global Magnitsky Human 
        Rights Accountability Act (subtitle F of title XII of Public 
        Law 114-328; 22 U.S.C. 2656 note), the United States Government 
        sanctioned 3 individuals from Nicaragua who have been involved 
        in serious human rights abuses or engaged in corruption, 
        including--
                    (A) Francisco Javier Diaz, Commissioner of the 
                National Police of Nicaragua;
                    (B) Jose Francisco Lopez, Vice President of 
                ALBANISA; and
                    (C) Fidel Antonio Moreno, a member of the 
                Sandinista National Liberation Front party.

SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON ADVANCING A NEGOTIATED SOLUTION TO 
              NICARAGUA'S CRISIS.

    It is the sense of Congress that--
            (1) credible negotiations between the Government of 
        Nicaragua and representatives of the Catholic Church, civil 
        society, student movement, private sector, and political 
        opposition in Nicaragua represent the best opportunity to reach 
        a peaceful solution to the crisis in Nicaragua that includes--
                    (A) a commitment to hold early elections that meet 
                democratic standards and permit credible international 
                electoral observation;
                    (B) the cessation of the violence perpetrated 
                against civilians by the National Police of Nicaragua 
                and by armed groups supported by the Government of 
                Nicaragua; and
                    (C) independent investigations into the killings of 
                more than 273 protesters; and
            (2) negotiations between the Government of Nicaragua and 
        representatives of the Catholic Church, civil society, student 
        movement, private sector, and political opposition in Nicaragua 
        have not resulted in an agreement as of the date of the 
        enactment of this Act because the Government of Nicaragua 
        failed to credibly participate in the process.

SEC. 4. IMPOSITION OF SANCTIONS WITH RESPECT TO PERSONS RESPONSIBLE FOR 
              HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS AND CORRUPTION IN NICARAGUA.

    (a) In General.--The President shall impose the sanctions described 
in subsection (b) with respect to any foreign person, including any 
current or former official of the Government of Nicaragua or any person 
acting on behalf of that Government, that the President determines--
            (1) has perpetrated, or is responsible for ordering or 
        otherwise directing, significant acts of violence or human 
        rights violations in Nicaragua against persons associated with 
        the protests in Nicaragua that began on April 18, 2018;
            (2) is responsible for or complicit in ordering, 
        controlling, or otherwise directing significant actions or 
        policies that undermine democratic processes or institutions in 
        Nicaragua; or
            (3) is an official of the Government of Nicaragua, or a 
        senior associate of such an official, that is responsible for 
        or complicit in ordering, controlling, or otherwise directing 
        acts of significant corruption, including the expropriation of 
        private or public assets for personal gain, corruption related 
        to government contracts, bribery, or the facilitation or 
        transfer of the proceeds of corruption to foreign 
        jurisdictions.
    (b) Sanctions Described.--
            (1) In general.--The sanctions described in this subsection 
        are the following:
                    (A) Asset blocking.--The exercise of all powers 
                granted to the President by the International Emergency 
                Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) to the 
                extent necessary to block and prohibit all transactions 
                in all property and interests in property of a person 
                determined by the President to be subject to subsection 
                (a) if such property and interests in property are in 
                the United States, come within the United States, or 
                are or come within the possession or control of a 
                United States person.
                    (B) Exclusion from the united states and revocation 
                of visa or other documentation.--In the case of an 
                alien determined by the President to be subject to 
                subsection (a), denial of a visa to, and exclusion from 
                the United States of, the alien, and revocation in 
                accordance with section 221(i) of the Immigration and 
                Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1201(i)), of any visa or 
                other documentation of the alien.
            (2) Penalties.--A person that violates, attempts to 
        violate, conspires to violate, or causes a violation of 
        paragraph (1)(A) or any regulation, license, or order issued to 
        carry out paragraph (1)(A) shall be subject to the penalties 
        set forth in subsections (b) and (c) of section 206 of the 
        International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1705) to 
        the same extent as a person that commits an unlawful act 
        described in subsection (a) of that section.
            (3) Exception relating to importation of goods.--The 
        requirement to block and prohibit all transactions in all 
        property and interests in property under paragraph (1)(A) shall 
        not include the authority to impose sanctions on the 
        importation of goods (as that term is defined in section 16 of 
        the Export Administration Act of 1979 (50 U.S.C. 4618) (as 
        continued in effect pursuant to the International Emergency 
        Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.))).
            (4) Exception to comply with united nations headquarters 
        agreement.--Sanctions under paragraph (1)(B) shall not apply to 
        an alien if admitting the alien into the United States is 
        necessary to permit the United States to comply with the 
        Agreement regarding the Headquarters of the United Nations, 
        signed at Lake Success June 26, 1947, and entered into force 
        November 21, 1947, between the United Nations and the United 
        States, or other applicable international obligations.
    (c) Regulatory Authority.--The President shall issue such 
regulations, licenses, and orders as are necessary to carry out this 
section.
    (d) Termination.--This section shall terminate on December 31, 
2021.

SEC. 5. CERTIFICATION AND WAIVER.

    (a) Certification.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter until December 31, 2021, 
the Secretary of State shall submit to the appropriate congressional 
committees a report certifying whether the Government of Nicaragua is 
taking effective steps--
            (1) to strengthen the rule of law and democratic 
        governance, including the independence of the judicial system 
        and electoral council;
            (2) to combat corruption, including by investigating and 
        prosecuting officials of that Government who are credibly 
        alleged to be corrupt; and
            (3) to protect the right of political opposition parties, 
        journalists, trade unionists, human rights defenders, and other 
        civil society activists to operate without interference.
    (b) Waiver.--
            (1) Temporary general waiver.--If the Secretary of State 
        certifies to the appropriate congressional committees under 
        subsection (a) that the Government of Nicaragua is taking 
        effective steps as described in that subsection, the President 
        may waive the imposition of additional sanctions under section 
        4 for a period of not more than one year beginning on the date 
        of the certification.
            (2) Case-by-case waiver.--The President may waive the 
        application of sanctions under section 4 with respect to a 
        person if the President--
                    (A) determines that such a waiver is in the 
                national interest of the United States; and
                    (B) not later than the date on which the waiver 
                takes effect, submits to the appropriate congressional 
                committees a notice of and justification for the 
                waiver.
    (c) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that the 
President should exercise the waiver authority provided under 
subsection (b)(1) if the Secretary of State certifies under subsection 
(a) that the Government of Nicaragua is taking effective steps as 
described in that subsection.

SEC. 6. REPORT ON HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS AND CORRUPTION IN NICARAGUA.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter until December 31, 2021, 
the Secretary of State, acting through the Assistant Secretary of State 
for Intelligence and Research, and in coordination with the Director of 
National Intelligence, shall submit to the appropriate congressional 
committees a report on the involvement of senior officials of the 
Government of Nicaragua, including members of the Supreme Electoral 
Council, the National Assembly, and the judicial system, in human 
rights violations and acts of significant corruption.
    (b) Elements.--The report required by subsection (a) shall include, 
to the extent feasible, the following:
            (1) For each senior official described in that subsection--
                    (A) the estimated total amount of funds or other 
                assets held in accounts at United States financial 
                institutions or foreign financial institutions that are 
                under the direct or indirect control of the senior 
                official;
                    (B) a description of such funds or assets;
                    (C) an identification of any equity interest held 
                by the senior official--
                            (i) in an entity on the list of specially 
                        designated nationals and blocked persons 
                        maintained by the Office of Foreign Assets 
                        Control of the Department of the Treasury; or
                            (ii) in any other entity subject to 
                        sanctions imposed by the United States;
                    (D) a description of how the senior official 
                acquired such funds, assets, or equity interests; and
                    (E) a description of how such funds, assets, or 
                equity interests have been used.
            (2) A description of any new methods used by senior 
        officials described in subsection (a) to evade anti-money 
        laundering and related laws, including recommendations to 
        improve techniques to combat the illicit use of the United 
        States financial system by such senior officials.
    (c) Form.--The report required by subsection (a) shall be submitted 
in unclassified form but may include a classified annex.
    (d) Public Availability.--The unclassified portion of the report 
required by subsection (a) shall be posted on a publicly available 
website of the Department of State.

SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Appropriate congressional committees.--The term 
        ``appropriate congressional committees'' means--
                    (A) the Committee on Foreign Relations, the 
                Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, and 
                the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate; and
                    (B) the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Committee 
                on Financial Services, and the Committee on 
                Appropriations of the House of Representatives.
            (2) United states person.--The term ``United States 
        person'' means--
                    (A) a United States citizen or an alien lawfully 
                admitted for permanent residence to the United States; 
                or
                    (B) an entity organized under the laws of the 
                United States or of any jurisdiction within the United 
                States, including a foreign branch of such an entity.
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