Western Hemisphere Subcommittee Chairwoman Salazar Delivers Opening Remarks at Hearing on Confronting the Totalitarian Ortega-Murillo Regime

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, House Foreign Affairs Committee Western Hemisphere Subcommittee Chairwoman Salazar delivered opening remarks at a hearing titled "Confronting the Totalitarian Ortega-Murillo Regime".

-Remarks-

With the arrival of President Trump to the Oval Office, there has been a major change in attitude on the part of the United States government towards Latin America. And there is no more compelling proof than what happened in Venezuela on January the 3rd of this year. The other example is Cuba, with the indictment against Raúl Castro for murder, and the fact that President Trump has mentioned repeatedly the need for a regime change in Cuba, something that we have not heard from any other administration in almost 60 years. These are clear, compelling examples of what the United States is thinking vis-à-vis the Western Hemisphere.

There's one country left and one dictator left that we have not mentioned lately, and that is Nicaragua and Daniel Ortega. Only two months ago, Ortega had the gall, the audacity, to announce that he will never hold presidential elections again. I mean, that only happens in North Korea, not in the Western Hemisphere. So what does he think? That he owns Nicaragua? Nicaragua is his own private hacienda, and he is the plantation owner. What gall. Shameless. But let's be clear, Nicaragua is not mentioned publicly as often by the White House or the United States government, or even the political parties that are represented in this country. But that does not mean it's not in our sights and discussed privately, frequently, specifically in my office and in the House Foreign Affairs Committee. That's the reason why this committee, the House Foreign Affairs Committee of the United States Congress, is holding this hearing today: to assure everyone that Venezuela, Cuba, and Nicaragua, all three, are on the same blacklist.

Ortega and his wife, Rosario Murillo, during the Biden administration, thought that they had carte blanche to steal the country. And in the last two years, they have also behaved the same way. They have dared to jail seven presidential candidates just for wanting to participate in a democratic process. They have disappeared over 450 political figures, including Brooklyn Rivera, who died in their dungeons. They destroyed 5,000 civil society organizations, including the Missionaries of Charity, the nuns of Mother Teresa's organization in El Mercado Oriental. People that I met, and these were saints in the middle of that area. They banished more than 400 political prisoners from the country, including some of the people who are in this audience today. They expelled over 300 members of the Catholic clergy, the most prominent one being Rolando Álvarez, the bishop of Matagalpa, and demolished 30 centers of higher education, including La Universidad Centroamericana, which was one of the top universities in Latin America.

Nicaragua is not forgotten. Ortega's actions will have consequences. Nicaragua's next. It's on the same blacklist as Cuba and Venezuela. They just don't know it yet. Ortega has not read the memo yet, but now he is being warned.

###

Legal Disclaimer:

EIN Presswire provides this news content "as is" without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above.