ACTION: To Prevent a Humanitarian Disaster
Here’s What We Must Do
Helen Duffy / Nicaragua Solidarity Coalition

(February 4, 2024) — Between now and Valentine’s Day, responding to this “ask” will take about 60-90 minutes of your time, but you can knock it out in one day or spread it out over a week or more.  It is one of the most critical tasks we will ask you to do, as there may be a chance to kill this bill in committee. 

S-1881 (Rubio, Kaine), the horrendous sanctions bill against Nicaragua, is in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and may be voted on this month. Then it goes to the banking committee.  We need you to CALL the senators below (or as many as you possibly can) to tell them to OPPOSE S-1881.  This bill will cause great harm to the Nicaraguan economy and the Nicaraguan people.  Let the politicians know that its implementation will increase emigration north due to its destabilizing effect on the economy of Central America and especially Nicaragua.

Specifically the Bill Would:

• Strongarm member countries to curtail lending to Nicaragua from the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI) – the only bank still lending to Nicaragua in amounts that help development.  The U.S. has already stopped the IMF and World Bank from giving loans to Nicaragua.
• Ban imports into the United States of Nicaraguan including beef, coffee, and gold. All are major exports for Nicaragua.
• Initiate measures to removeNicaragua from the regional free trade agreement, DR-CAFTA (Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement).   This will harm Nicaraguans and cause dislocation to the region’s food supply chains and other vital economic arrangements.
• Prohibit new US investment in Nicaragua.

Helen Duffy
Nicaragua Solidarity Coalition. Nicasolidarity.net

IT IS IMPORTANT THAT WE TAKE ACTION IMMEDIATELY! 

Senate Foreign Relations Committee

Benjamin Cardin (chair)	MD	D	(202) 224-4524
Jean Shaheen	NH	D	(202)224-2841
Christopher Coons	DE	D	(202) 224-5042
Tim Kaine	VA	D	(202)224-4024
Jeff Merkley	OR	D	202-224-3753
Chris Murphy	CT	D	(202) 224-4041
Cory Booker	NJ	D	(202) 224-3224
Brian Schatz	HI	D	(202)224-3934
Chris Van Hollen	MD	D	(202) 224-4654
Tammy Duckworth	IL	D	(202) 224-2854
Senate Banking Committee
Sherrod Brown (Chair)	OH	D	202-224-2315
Jack Reed	RI	D	202-224-4642
Robert Menendez	NJ	D
Jon Tester	MT	D	(202)224-2644
Mark Warner	VA	D	(202)224-2023
Elizabeth Warren	MA	D	(202)224-2023
Chris Van Hollen	MD	D	(202) 224-4543
Catherine Cortez Masto	NV	D	(202)224-3542
Tina Smith	MN	D	(202)224-5641
Kyrsten Sinema	AZ	I
Raphael Warnock	GA	D	(202)224-3643
John Fetterman	PA	D	(202)224-4254
Laphonza Butler	CA	D	202-224-3841

Here is a short phone script if you care to use it.  Feel free to change and add.

FOR THE SENATE

My name is _______ and I understand that Senator ______ is a member of the Foreign Relations Committee (or Banking Committee).  

I want the Senator to vote to OPPOSE Senate Bill 1881.  It would impose further harsh sanctions on the people of Nicaragua. 

Unilateral coercive measures like those in S. 1881 are not only illegal under international law but they have been extensively shown to be ineffective.  Yet they cause suffering and death among the most vulnerable people—children, the elderly, the sick, and the poor. These measures, sanctions, do not improve conditions in the targeted countries; they have been shown to negatively impact human rights, destroy workers’ livelihoods and exacerbate migration.  For these reasons I urge a NO vote on S.1881. Thank you.

Vote NO on S.1881!
Senate Bill 1881, the ill-named “Restoring Sovereignty and Human Rights in Nicaragua Act of 2023,” sponsored by Senators Kaine and Rubio, will harm the Nicaraguan people and the rest of Central America and exacerbate the migration crisis on our southern border.

The Harm S.1881 would do to Nicaragua
It proposes the following direct attacks on the Nicaraguan economy:

• Adds the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI) to the list of international financial institutions that the United States would pressure to curtail their lending to Nicaragua.

• Codifies a prohibition on imports into the U.S. of Nicaraguan beef, coffee, and gold (sugar imports have already been reduced and gold exporters sanctioned).
• Aims to remove Nicaragua from DR-CAFTA (Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement), another principal source of revenue.

• Prohibits new US investment in Nicaragua, stating “A United States person, wherever located, may not make any investment in any sector of the economy of Nicaragua.”

The NICA Act of 2018 already caused Nicaragua to lose over US$1.4 billion between 2018 and 2021 in funding from the World Bank, IDB and IMF, impacting development of the Caribbean Coast, school lunch programs for vulnerable children, child development programs, and access to safe drinking water in rural areas.

From 2018-2022 Nicaragua saw its IDB loans fall by US$131 million annually, money which would have enabled the country to build 265 kilometers of roads and four hospitals, and to improve drinking water systems in two main cities. CABEI has been picking up the slack.

Extra sanctions would reduce revenue to the country with the third lowest GDP per capita in the Americas, impacting programs that have cut poverty in half, drastically reduced malnutrition, and improved human development indicators. This will harm the most vulnerable: children, the elderly, the sick, and the poor. We are ashamed that our country would inflict such collective punishment in our name.

The Harm S.1881 would do to Central America
The Sandinista government of Nicaragua has maintained good relations with its neighbors since 2007, regardless of ideology, through trade, through the Central American Integration System (SICA), and through effective use of international law to resolve border issues. By politicizing the DR-CAFTA and CABEI, S.1881 would cause upheaval in the economies of all of Central America. A stark example of this is the new democratic government in Honduras, Nicaragua’s third largest trading partner. President Castro has stated that her government wants to maintain fluid trade with Nicaragua, from which her country imports key ingredients of the local diet, including beans, beef, and dairy products. Disrupting this trade could lead to shortages and hunger in Honduras and its neighbors, leading to instability.

S.1881 Would Exacerbate the Migration Crisis
As the leaders of border states have eloquently stated, “broad-based U.S. sanctions … are a critical contributing factor in the current increase in migration… In light of their grave humanitarian toll on the peoples of those countries.” The sanctions already imposed on Nicaragua have in fact caused an uptick in migration, which has begun to level off. But potential destabilization of the Central American region from the effects of S.1881 will likely exacerbate the migrant crisis at our southern borders.