{"id":1823444,"date":"2023-01-25T11:05:16","date_gmt":"2023-01-25T16:05:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1823444"},"modified":"2023-01-25T11:06:27","modified_gmt":"2023-01-25T16:06:27","slug":"hon-thaddeus-g-mccotter-the-death-of-nicaraguan-democracy-u-s-economic-and-security-interests-are-not-always-simpatico","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/hon-thaddeus-g-mccotter-the-death-of-nicaraguan-democracy-u-s-economic-and-security-interests-are-not-always-simpatico\/","title":{"rendered":"Hon. Thaddeus G. McCotter: The Death of Nicaraguan Democracy\u2013 U.S. Economic and Security Interests Are Not Always Simpatico"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">36<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fhon-thaddeus-g-mccotter-the-death-of-nicaraguan-democracy-u-s-economic-and-security-interests-are-not-always-simpatico%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1823444&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47-->\n<div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/article_CRC-113.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\"   style=\"display:none\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"advertisment pb-5 text-center\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"col\">\n<div class=\"advertisment pb-5 text-center\"><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>                In the summer of 2005, as the U.S. Representative for Michigan\u2019s 11<sup>th<\/sup> I opposed the Congressional District <a href=\"https:\/\/ustr.gov\/trade-agreements\/free-trade-agreements\/cafta-dr-dominican-republic-central-america-fta\">Central American Free Trade Agreement<\/a> (CAFTA), with Nicaragua, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. My position was based on the harm it would do to Michigan and America\u2019s sugar beet growers; and because of its detrimental impact on American relations in the region. This didn&#8217;t go down well with Bush and the House leadership.<\/p>\n<p>In a meeting with the then-House GOP majority\u2019s leadership, I again heard two key rationales for supporting the pact. One, CAFTA is a \u201cwin\u201d for the U.S. economy, because it would break down the other nations\u2019 protectionist trade barriers; thus, our economy would gain more than our prospective trade partners. The other rationale was to show the American government\u2019s support for the democratically elected leaders in those nations. I disagreed with the legislation and was still opposed to it.<\/p>\n<p>Together with a few other members who opposed CAFTA, I received a summons from the White House to meet President George W. Bush with his team. When similar arguments were made for supporting CAFTA I repeated my opposition, arguing that it would harm sugarbeet growers. I was aware of the history of many others in the room and reiterated my opposition for national security reasons. The logic was inescapable: if, indeed, CAFTA would be a win for the overall American economy by removing the other nations\u2019 protectionist trade policies, the other nations\u2019 citizens will feel cheated, especially the beneficiaries of the repealed protectionist trade policies; and the ensuing political unrest, which would brand those nations\u2019 friendly administrations as U.S. lackeys, would constitute an existential threat to the continuation of democracy building in the region. Particularly, I was concerned that CAFTA would bring back Daniel Ortega and his Sandinistas in Nicaragua. I was dismissed from my concerns. Ultimately, CAFTA passed.<\/p>\n<p>After being defeated in 1990&#8217;s national elections, in which Violeta Barrios De Chamorro won, Daniel Ortega has been elected president of Nicaragua again. Rosario Murillo, his spouse, is the vice president of Nicaragua. Their <i>Frente Sandinista de Liberaci\u00f3n Nacional<\/i> (FSLN) party \u2013 i.e., the Sandinistas \u2013 are back in despotic control of the country. Catholic Bishop Rolando \u00c1lvarez of Matagalpa is on trial for the \u201ccrime\u201d of supporting democracy and opposing the government aligned paramilitary\u2019s murders. Nicaraguans are once again being oppressed by the Sandinista regime.<\/p>\n<p>CAFTA is not the only culprit. But it did serve as one more weighty economic straw upon the already straining camel\u2019s back that was Nicaraguan democracy. 2018 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-latin-america-44398673\">public opposition to pension legislation<\/a> The latest round of Sandinista Tyranny saw an exponential rise in killings by police officers and paramilitary groups pro-government, as well as arbitrary detentions, attacks against journalists, and members of Catholic Church. According to <a href=\"https:\/\/bti-project.org\/en\/reports\/country-report\/NIC\">BTI<\/a>The collaboration of think tanks and universities analysts to assess &#8211; \u201cthe transformation processes towards democracy and inclusive market economy worldwide\u201d:<br \/>\u00a0\n<\/p>\n<div><i>In April 2018, the country was in its first major crisis after the civil war of 1980s. Protests against reforming the national social safety system grew into a wider protest against Ortega&#8217;s government, with the demand for early elections. All political protesters have been persecuted, and all forms of disagreement have been suppressed. Ortega\u2019s regime turned to a violent authoritarian regime that has maintained permanent pressure on the opposition.<\/i><br \/>\u00a0<\/div>\n<div><i>\u201cHeavily armed pro-government groups remain at large, accompanied by police forces, committing joint attacks against the civilian population,\u201d Erika Guevara Rosas, Americas director at Amnesty International, said the following:<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>\u201cThe message sent by the highest-ranking Nicaraguan authorities is that they are willing to do anything to silence the voices of those who demonstrate against this violent repression. This situation is extremely serious and deserves strong condemnation from the international community.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>\u201cThe direct attack on figures who publicly denounce the attacks of agents of the government of President Ortega is without a doubt a form of retaliation and an attempt to silence those dissident voices,\u201d Erika Guevara Rosas<\/i><br \/><i>\u201cThe serious human rights violations committed or permitted by the authorities are turning the country into a pressure cooker about to explode. Nicaragua\u2019s tragic history must not be repeated.\u201d<\/i><br \/>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>International protests did not affect the Ortega regime. Viewing these public protests \u2013 i.e., democracy \u2013 as an existential threat to its rule, the dictatorship\u2019s persecutions escalated. Believing the Catholic Church to be a prime instigator of public disgruntlement with the Sandinistas, on August 19, 2022, police arrested Bishop \u00c1lvarez, an opponent of the Ortega regime, and placed him under house arrest. The international condemnation of Nicaragua&#8217;s autocracy and calls for the release of the dissident bishop following his imprisonment has led to many calls for his release. The American government was also affected.<br \/>\u00a0<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/www.uscirf.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/2022-08\/2022%20Nicaragua%20Country%20Update%20%5BUPDATED%5D.pdf\">The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom<\/a>\u2019s (USCIRF) Commissioner Frank Wolf <a href=\"https:\/\/cruxnow.com\/church-in-the-americas\/2022\/12\/prelate-calls-on-us-to-pressure-nicaragua-to-free-dissident-bishop\">said<\/a>: \u201cBishop \u00c1lvarez is allegedly charged with conspiracy, spreading false news, and damaging the Nicaraguan government and society. In reality, he\u2019s motivated by faith to call out the [Ortega government\u2019s] human rights record, making him its latest target.\u201d<br \/>\u00a0<\/div>\n<div>Commissioner Wolf\u2019s outrage was evidenced in the USCIRF\u2019s 2022 annual report and recommendations regarding the Sandinista regime:<\/div>\n<div><i>The Nicaraguan government continued harassing the Catholic Church during the first half (2022). Catholic clergy have come under direct persecution\u2026 USCIRF recommended that the State Department maintain Nicaragua on its Special Watch List in the designations expected later this year.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>The Biden administration should consider targeting Nicaraguan officials and government agencies responsible for violence and other punitive measures against religious leaders and houses of worship.<\/i><br \/>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>The USCIRF recommendations were implemented by the State Department. By year\u2019s end, On November 15, 2022, the State Department again \u201cplaced Nicaragua on its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.state.gov\/countries-of-particular-concern-special-watch-list-countries-entities-of-particular-concern\/\">Special Watch List<\/a> for severe violations of religious freedom.\u201d Moreover, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.state.gov\/expanding-u-s-sanctions-authorities-and-announcement-of-visa-restrictions-for-nicaraguan-officials\/\">U.S. sanctions<\/a> Specific:<br \/>\u00a0<\/div>\n<div><i>Visa restrictions apply to more than 500 Nicaraguans and their families. No member of the Nicaraguan government nor anyone who facilitates the Ortega-Murillo regime\u2019s abuses should believe they can travel freely to the United States.<\/i><br \/><i>With our allies and partners, the United States believes that Nicaragua needs to return to democracy. We will use all diplomatic and economic resources to push for accountability for Ortega-Murillo&#8217;s regime. We will also reiterate our call for the unconditional and immediate release of political prisoners and demand the restoration of civic space in Nicaragua.<\/i><\/div>\n<div>Evidently, the Ortega regime did not have any immediate plans to take a vacation in America. In January 2023, the Ortega regime announced that it would continue to persecute Bishop Alvarez by putting Alvarez on trial. According to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/news\/253311\/catholic-bishop-arrested-by-dictatorship-in-nicaragua-to-be-put-on-trial\">Catholic News Agency<\/a>:<br \/>\u00a0<\/div>\n<div><i>According to a statement by the [Ortega regime\u2019s] judiciary, \u201cin the Managua Criminal District Courts, the initial hearing of the criminal proceeding was held, in which Rolando Jos\u00e9 \u00c1lvarez Lagos appeared as accused of the crimes of conspiracy to undermine national security and sovereignty and the propagation of fake news through information and communication technologies to the detriment of the Nicaraguan State and society.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>The judicial authority reviewed the precautionary measures ordered in the preliminary hearing, maintaining house arrest, likewise, admitted the exchange of evidentiary information and referred the case to trial,\u201d The bulletin stated.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>The Ortega regime has yet to confirm if it will attempt to summon the ghost from Hell. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foreignaffairs.com\/reviews\/capsule-review\/1991-06-01\/stalins-prosecutor-life-andre-vyshinsky\">Andrey Vyshinsky<\/a> to serve as Bishop Alvarez\u2019s prosecutor. Likely, the dictatorship won\u2019t feel the need, based upon the judicial persecution of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/news\/253372\/nicaraguan-priest-found-guilty-sentenced-to-eight-years-in-prison-for-conspiracy\">Father Oscar Benavidez D\u00e1vila<\/a>A Sandinista Kangaroo Court sentenced him to eight years imprisonment for the same bogus accusations. \u201cconspiracy to undermine national security and sovereignty\u201d  \u201cspreading fake news.\u201d<br \/>\u00a0<\/div>\n<div>The dissident Bishop, on his part has given his defense to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vaticannews.va\/en\/pope\/news\/2022-08\/pope-expresses-sorrow-for-nicaragua.html\">highest power<\/a>: \u201cAware that prayer is the Christian&#8217;s strength, the invitation is to continue to implore Christ to intercede and watch over this small flock of His.\u201d We should accept his request and offer prayers for Bishop Alvarez as well as the Nicaraguan people. As his fate is, so is the fate of the Nicaraguan people.<br \/>\u00a0<\/div>\n<div>We should also pray to His divine intercession for American policy makers to learn from past mistakes while we are at it. While I was not in agreement on both counts, enough U.S. officials believed CAFTA would benefit the country economically. The deal was also considered to be intrinsically in our national defense interests because it would promote democracy and more prosperity among our trading partner countries. It was the \u201cend of history\u201d Ideology at its best.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDemocratic capitalism had triumphed!\u201d For CAFTA and other trade agreements, policymakers\u2019 did not ask the question \u201cwhat could go wrong?\u201d They were curious. \u201chow soon until everything goes right?\u201d There is however a kernel wisdom within the \u201cend of history\u201d ideology: policymakers\u2019 hubris, cupidity, and historical ignorance may not bring about the end of history; but it can bring about the death of a democracy.<br \/>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>Again, CAFTA\u2019s passage was not the sole reason for the abhorrent demise of Nicaraguan democracy at the hands of Ortega, Murillo, and their dictatorial Sandinista regime. CAFTA definitely played a role in the economic conditions which were political fuel for the pension protests. And, it is why the death of democracy in Nicaragua serves as an object lesson that America\u2019s economic interests and national security interests are not always <i>simpatico<\/i>.<br \/>\u00a0<\/div>\n<div><b>A <i>Human Events<\/i> Contributor, the Hon. Thaddeus McCotter (M.C. Ret. represented Michigan\u2019s 11th Congressional district from 2003-2012, and served as Chair of the Republican House Policy Committee. He is not a lobbyist but a frequent speaker and moderator at public policy seminars. &#8220;John Batchelor Radio Show,&#8221; Among other media appearances.<\/b><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the summer of 2005, as the U.S. Representative for Michigan\u2019s 11th I opposed the Congressional District Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), with Nicaragua, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. My position was based on the harm it would do to Michigan and America\u2019s sugar beet growers; and because of its detrimental impact on American &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1823447,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[547],"tags":[6499,5521,4202,8861,8864,16399,3646,16400,8865,7238],"class_list":["post-1823444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-bongino-report","tag-death","tag-democracy","tag-economic","tag-hon","tag-mccotter","tag-nicaraguan","tag-security","tag-simpatico","tag-thaddeus","tag-u-s"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1823444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1823444"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1823444\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1823447"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1823444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1823444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1823444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}