Western Hemisphere Subcommittee Chairwoman Maria Salazar Delivers Opening Remarks at Hearing on Defending Religious Freedom Around the World
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, House Foreign Affairs Western Hemisphere Subcommittee Chairwoman Maria Salazar delivered opening remarks at a subcommittee hearing titled "Defending Religious Freedom Around the World".
-Remarks-
Religious liberty is under attack around the world and in the Western Hemisphere. There is a very clear example called Nicaragua. I know Nicaragua very well. As a news correspondent working for Univision, I lived there, and I saw firsthand how the Nicaraguans, along with the Chileans, are the most Catholic people in the western hemisphere. I remember during one of the elections when Cardinal Obando Y Bravo, who was like a rock star for Nicaraguans, was able to indicate or to guide the people, how to vote when the Sandinistas were trying to steal the elections once again.
But unfortunately, the Sandinistas, Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo are back in power, and they are trying to substitute god for their regime. And this is not an opinion. This is the empirical evidence. 260 religious figures have been expelled from just preaching or praying in public. A thousand catholic churches have been attacked, according to the Vatican. In 2024, evangelical pastors belonging to this group called the mountain gateway ministries, were arrested on fake charges and were sentenced to decades in prison just for bringing the gospel. That is what Ortega and Murillo do to their people and to those who are close to God.
Last year, Ortega threw out the Clarissa's nuns, forced them to flee the to their to their convents and with almost nothing. And not only that, the nuns from Teresa de Calcutta or from Mother Teresa and I visited them. I know them in El Mercado oriental. They had to flee. They had to go because Ortega would not allow them to continue practicing and serving, saying those people who lived in that market called the Mercado Oriental. On top of that, the Holy Week and Lent, those big processions that I covered as a news reporter were completely banned. And they have been gone for the last three years. And on top of that, more than 6000 faith based NGOs have been shut down.
The good news is that two things that the Nicaraguan people remain, to be a very solid group of, Evangelicals and Catholic and people that are of great faith. The Nicaraguan people, as I said, along with the Chileans, that's the first situation that Murillo and the Ortega Murillo are facing.
And the second one is Donald Trump. Everyone saw what happened in Venezuela. Everyone is understanding what's happening in Cuba right now that apparently we're talking to the regime. These are three tyrannies… Nicaragua, Venezuela and Cuba in Western Hemisphere that have not allowed for decades for the faith based community to flourish and to preach in whichever way they want to.
So the message is very clear from this dais and from this hearing to Ortega and Murillo. And I will send them a message in Spanish so they can understand it very well that their game is over, that I think it's time for them to understand that things are changing in the Western Hemisphere, and the first thing that they should do is not touch those faith based communities – the catholics, the evangelicals or any other NGOs that are helping them. That is very clear that they have to change their tune. Otherwise the United States is going to take care of that because there is a new sheriff in town, and not only for political reasons, but for religious reasons, for human rights reasons. The being free to preach and to go to church and do whatever you want to on Sundays is not a prerogative that the government gives you. It's something that the lord has given you for you to go and pray as long as you want to, without any type of interference. So that's a very clear message, which I am going to now relay to specifically Rosario Murillo, who is the devil herself and who that's why she is guiding her husband not to allow this type of activities to happen on the Nicaraguan territory.
Thank God there is a leader at the White House that understands the importance of the Western Hemisphere liberty, democracy, free market economy and religious rights. And we thank you, Chairman, for allowing us to send this message specifically to the Nicaraguan people that have been wanting for the United States to pay attention to them and to give them back those religious freedoms, civil rights, human rights that they had for so many years.
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