Sen. Bob Menendez, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Rep. Michael McCaul, who holds the same position on the House committee, on Friday urged four Central American presidents to use their position at the Central American Integration Bank Economic (CABEI) to avoid financing the government of Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua.
Xiomara Castro in Honduras, Alejandro Giammattei in Guatemala, Rodrigo Chaves Robles in Costa Rica, and Nayib Bukele in El Salvador received the bipartisan letters signed by the congressmen. In these, they cite a report published by researchers from the United Nations (UN) human rights experts, who details crimes against humanity committed by the Nicaraguan government against civilians.
“These shocking characterizations of the situation in Nicaragua underscore the urgency of ending a ‘business as usual’ approach with the Ortega-Murillo regime,” read the letter sent to the presidents.
The CABEI is for now the largest source of funding of Nicaragua, having open accounts worth 1,586 million dollars in 33 projects, with approvals in 2021 of 890 million, both with the public and private sectors.
In the letter to the Central American leaders, the legislators assured that CABEI “has helped to strengthen the economic competitiveness of Central America, and advance projects that reduce poverty” however, “it has provided almost 3,500 million dollars in funds for initiatives implemented under the Ortega-Murillo regime. This financing provides a lifeline to the regime at a time of worldwide condemnation of human rights violations in Nicaragua.”
The president of CABEI, Dante Mossi, defended on monday during an event in Washington, the line of financing with the Nicaraguan government, assuring that as the head of the body, whose Board is made up of the ministers of Treasury and Finance of the countries of the isthmus, he is willing “to work with anyone who is elected leader from a country”.
Their positions were rejected by analysts and observers of the event. Mossi says that he has taken into account the papers before him that indicate that Nicaragua has an elected government under democratic rules, with contested elections.
Menéndez and McCaul made reference to acts such as the removal of the citizenship of more than 300 Nicaraguans and the sentence to 26 years in prison of the Catholic Bishop Rolando Álvarez, as samples of the “attacks on democracy” committed by the Nicaraguan government.
“In recent years, the United States has taken steps to increase scrutiny and reduce funding for multilateral institutions that directly benefit the Ortega-Murillo regime. While the US has ensured that funding continues to be available for initiatives that benefit the basic humanitarian needs of the Nicaraguan people, this increased scrutiny has ensured that funding does not flow to the Ortega-Murillo regime,” added the presidents of the Congressional Foreign Relations committees. “We urge your government to follow similar policies regarding CABEI loans.”
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