Bipartisan Letter Suggests Nicaragua Be Removed From CAFTA-DR

Seven senators, including Senate Foreign Relations Committee ranking member Jim Risch, R-Idaho, are asking the administration to consider removing Nicaragua from the free trade agreement with Central American countries if political conditions in that country continue to deteriorate. Risch was joined on the June 10 letter by Sens. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., Dick Durbin, D-Ill., Marco Rubio, R-Fla., John Cornyn, R-Texas, Todd Young, R-Ind. and Bill Cassidy, R-La.

The senators said that the country's leaders brutally repressed peaceful demonstrations, have interfered with the electoral process, including jailing opposition candidates for president, and have "severely restricted independent civil society and media."

"The Ortega-Murillo regime’s concentration of power over all branches of the Nicaraguan Government and resulting corruption threaten the future of democracy in that country, damage the interests of the United States, and erode confidence in the ability of the Nicaraguan Government to uphold its international obligations, including those under the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR)," they wrote, and said that the administration should consider whether Nicaragua should stay in CAFTA-DR "if the Ortega-Murillo regime continues to tighten its authoritarian rule in an attempt to subvert the November elections, specifically, and undermine democracy and human rights in Nicaragua generally."

The Nicaraguan embassy could not be reached for comment. A pro-business group in Nicaragua did not respond to a request for comment.