A U.S. Senator from Florida is demanding sanctions on the Nicaraguan government amid ongoing targeted harassment of ministers from the United States.
U.S. Sen. Rick Scott is joined by Republican colleagues Katie Britt, Ted Cruz and Tommy Tuberville in demanding targeted sanctions on the country for "repeated violations of religious freedom."
Scott and his colleagues claim Catholic missionaries are especially targeted, particularly among the Mountain Gateway group, which saw three of its American emissaries arrested by the regime of Daniel Ortega and Zoilamérica Ortega Murillo in January.
"These actions are the latest chilling representation of the oppression of human rights in Nicaragua, Cuba and Venezuela under their evil regimes, and a call to action for the United States to show strength in defense of human rights, democracy and freedom in our Hemisphere," Scott and the other Republicans note.
The letter describes "an exponential increase in human rights abuses in Nicaragua, focused on eliminating any opposition since the pro-democracy protests in 2018."
"In a move taken from the playbook of dangerous regimes in Cuba and Venezuela, the Ortega-Murillo regime has repressed all dissent by way of jailing, murdering and even exiling many political prisoner opposition leaders to the United States," the letter continues.
"The regime's efforts to dismantle civil society institutions have resulted in the shuttering of more than 3,500 NGOs in Nicaragua, including the Nicaraguan Red Cross. The Ortega-Murillo regime has also seized the assets of Mountain Gateway and these other institutions."
The Senators urge the Joe Biden administration to "stand strong against the thugs who are oppressing the people of Nicaragua, as well as Venezuela and Cuba, and ... stand with the Nicaraguan people and pressure the Ortega-Murillo regime until religious freedom and human rights (are) restored, democracy upheld and the release of all political prisoners is secured."
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