Title: A resolution expressing the sense of the Senate that the United States should continue to support the people of Nicaragua in their peaceful efforts to promote the restoration of democracy and the defense of human rights, and use the tools under United States law to increase political and economic pressure on the government of Daniel Ortega.
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
This resolution calls on Nicaragua to release all political prisoners and cease all acts of repression against dissenting voices, urges and encourages efforts to advance electoral reforms in Nicaragua, and exhorts the U.S. government to investigate and hold accountable those responsible for the death of U.S. citizen Eddy Montes, who was shot and killed while in the custody of Nicaraguan police.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 525 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
S. RES. 525

   Expressing the sense of the Senate that the United States should 
 continue to support the people of Nicaragua in their peaceful efforts 
   to promote the restoration of democracy and the defense of human 
rights, and use the tools under United States law to increase political 
       and economic pressure on the government of Daniel Ortega.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 2, 2020

Mr. Cruz (for himself, Mr. Menendez, Mr. Rubio, Mr. Murphy, Mr. Perdue, 
and Mr. Cardin) submitted the following resolution; which was referred 
                 to the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
   Expressing the sense of the Senate that the United States should 
 continue to support the people of Nicaragua in their peaceful efforts 
   to promote the restoration of democracy and the defense of human 
rights, and use the tools under United States law to increase political 
       and economic pressure on the government of Daniel Ortega.

Whereas the government of Daniel Ortega has concentrated power and brought about 
        the progressive deterioration of democratic conditions in Nicaragua;
Whereas recent elections in Nicaragua, including the 2016 presidential election, 
        have been marred by irregularities and characterized by significant 
        restrictions on the participation of opposition political parties and 
        the absence of credible international and local electoral observers;
Whereas Nicaraguan security forces, paramilitary, police, and other actors 
        working under the direction of the Ortega regime committed gross 
        violations of human rights and acts of repression, resulting in more 
        than 325 deaths, over 2,000 injuries, and at least 800 arbitrary 
        detentions during the peaceful protests that took place in 2018, 
        according to the Organization of American States;
Whereas a report by the Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts, 
        appointed by the Organization of American States Inter-American 
        Commission on Human Rights, determined that the Ortega regime used 
        deliberate, lethal force against protesters and committed acts of 
        torture that meet the international legal standard of crimes against 
        humanity;
Whereas an estimated 82,000 Nicaraguans fled the country between April 2018 and 
        October 2019, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for 
        Refugees;
Whereas the Government and people of Costa Rica have graciously accepted nearly 
        70,000 Nicaraguans, including enrolling children in public primary 
        schools, allowing access to legal employment, and making efforts to 
        strengthen the capacity of Costa Rica's asylum system;
Whereas the Ortega government failed to comply with its commitment to release 
        all political prisoners, releasing just 392 people, of which 286 were 
        released to house arrest with charges still pending;
Whereas Nicaragua's Civic Alliance for Justice and Democracy alleges that there 
        remain over 150 political prisoners held in Nicaraguan prisons as of 
        November 29, 2019;
Whereas a United States citizen and Navy veteran, 57-year-old Eddy Montes, was 
        shot and killed while in the custody of the Nicaraguan police at La 
        Modelo Prison on May 16, 2019;
Whereas the government of Daniel Ortega has severely restricted freedom of the 
        press by closing five local television stations, attacking independent 
        radio stations, arbitrarily detaining journalists, and arbitrarily 
        restricting print supplies from entering the country;
Whereas, beginning on November 14, 2019, Nicaraguan police conducted attacks on 
        churches throughout the country, cut water to hunger strikers barricaded 
        inside a church in Masaya, and arrested 13 people attempting to bring 
        them water;
Whereas doctors, lawyers, academics, and other professionals in Nicaragua face 
        persecution and, in some cases torture, based on suspicion of aiding or 
        sympathizing with protestors;
Whereas the Ortega regime has violated the economic and political rights of 
        indigenous communities, Afro-descendent populations, rural campesinos, 
        land rights defenders, and individuals living in the Caribbean 
        Autonomous Regions of Nicaragua;
Whereas, on November 27, 2018, Executive Order 13851 was issued, which blocks 
        the property of certain persons involved in the Nicaraguan crisis, and 
        its application was expanded by the Office of Foreign Asset Control of 
        the Department of the Treasury on September 4, 2019;
Whereas the bipartisan Nicaragua Human Rights and Anticorruption Act of 2018 
        (Public Law 115-335; commonly referred to as the ``NICA Act'') was 
        signed into law on December 20, 2018, imposing restrictions on lending 
        to the Nicaraguan government by international financial institutions and 
        requiring the President to sanction non-United States persons implicated 
        in egregious human rights abuses and corruption in Nicaragua;
Whereas the NICA Act expresses the support of Congress for a negotiated solution 
        to the Nicaraguan crisis and includes an annual certification to waive 
        sanctions if the Ortega government takes steps to restore democratic 
        governance and uphold human rights;
Whereas, in the absence of such steps, the Department of State and the 
        Department of the Treasury have imposed targeted sanctions on Nicaraguan 
        officials and entities, including First Lady and Vice President Rosario 
        Murillo, Daniel Ortega's sons, Rafael Ortega Murillo and Laureano Ortega 
        Murillo, and Nicaragua's Banco Corporativo (Bancorp);
Whereas, in June 2019, the Government of Canada imposed sanctions on 12 members 
        of the Government of Nicaragua engaged in gross and systemic human 
        rights violations; and
Whereas, in advance of any future election, the Government of Nicaragua urgently 
        needs to undertake electoral reforms, including the appointment of 
        independent new magistrates to the Supreme Electoral Council, the 
        restoration of a 50 percent plus one threshold for the presidential 
        election, the establishment of a second round of voting if the electoral 
        threshold is not reached, the establishment of a detailed electoral 
        calendar, and stronger observation by political parties: Now, therefore, 
        be it
    Resolved, That the Senate--
            (1) calls on the Government of Nicaragua to immediately 
        release all political prisoners without conditions and cease 
        all acts of violence, repression, and intimidation against 
        dissenting voices in Nicaragua;
            (2) urges the Ortega government to respect Nicaraguans' 
        constitutional rights and implement the electoral reforms 
        mentioned above in order to permit the holding of free, fair, 
        and transparent elections;
            (3) encourages the United States Government to align United 
        States sanctions with diplomatic efforts to advance electoral 
        reforms that could lead to free, fair, and transparent 
        elections in Nicaragua;
            (4) expresses full support for the people of Nicaragua, 
        Nicaraguan independent media, and Nicaraguan civil society 
        organizations that are working for a peaceful return to 
        democratic order in Nicaragua;
            (5) supports the efforts of the United States Government to 
        apply pressure on the Ortega government in order hold 
        accountable those actors involved in human rights abuses, acts 
        of significant corruption, and the undermining of democratic 
        institutions in Nicaragua;
            (6) urges the international community to hold the Ortega 
        government accountable for human rights abuses and to restrict 
        its access to foreign financing unless or until it allows for 
        free, fair, and transparent elections monitored by credible 
        international and local electoral observers; and
            (7) urges the United States Government to investigate and 
        hold accountable those responsible for the death of Eddy 
        Montes, a United States citizen and Navy veteran, who was shot 
        and killed while in the custody of the Nicaraguan police at La 
        Modelo Prison on May 16, 2019.
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