Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., a Catholic, praised the Trump administration and Secretary of State Marco Rubio for imposing visa restrictions on more than 100 officials and family members tied to Nicaragua’s Murillo-Ortega dictatorship.
In a June 8 statement, Smith, a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, called the move a “welcome step” toward accountability for authoritarian rule in Latin America.
“The brutal Murillo-Ortega regime continues to eviscerate the basic rights and fundamental freedoms of the Nicaraguan people,” Smith said. “President Trump and Secretary Rubio are sending a clear message that the United States stands with the Nicaraguan people, will not tolerate the Murillo-Ortega regime’s extreme repression of non-violent individuals, and will hold those responsible who were complicit in the death of Brooklyn Rivera and the detention of his family members.”
The State Department announced the measures in response to the regime’s role in the death of political prisoner Brooklyn Rivera, a renowned Indigenous leader of the Miskito people and former member of Congress. Rivera was arrested by Ortega’s regime in September 2023, but the regime never publicly stated the charges against him.
The Nicaraguan health ministry announced Rivera’s death May 31 and said his health had deteriorated because of a bacterial infection linked to COVID-19. In announcing the visa restrictions, the State Department said U.S.-sanctioned official Lumberto Campbell Hooker had been directly involved in denying medical care to Rivera and preventing his family from burying his remains.
Smith said the regime has “for far too long” conducted extrajudicial killings, suppressed civil society, targeted the Catholic Church, and stolen millions of dollars in public funds from the Nicaraguan people.
“All tools available must be used to hold corrupt regime officials accountable for their role in oppressing the Nicaraguan people,” Smith said. “The Trump Administration continues to demonstrate the resolve of the United States in securing a free future for the Western Hemisphere and holding dictators accountable to the rule of law.”