Issues in Nicaragua

Floor Speech

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Ms. HAGEMAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for yielding time and for his leadership on this important issue.

Since its founding in 2006, Mountain Gateway Ministries has been changing people's lives through the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the feeding and clothing of those in need, and the provision of water, food, equipment, and recovery assistance during and after natural disasters.

These noble and selfless efforts have had far-reaching impacts on the lives of so many families and individuals extending far beyond the borders of any individual Nation.

In 2013, Mountain Gateway Ministries began their important work in Nicaragua, spreading the Lord's word to hundreds of thousands of people.

The ministry has started and supported multiple churches across the country, provided countless aid and helping hands through hurricanes and other humanitarian relief projects, and has even gone as far as to run a Fairtrade coffee farm with the goal of providing a source of stable income for local residents in nearby rural communities.

Over the course of 10 years, they have operated with the cooperation and approval of the Nicaraguan authorities. Unfortunately, this all changed after the ministry held a series of evangelistic services in 2023, which nearly 1 million people attended.

Shortly after those services ended, the Nicaraguan government rapidly changed its position and began a relentless campaign of wrongful persecution.

In December 2023, under the guise of false money laundering claims and with little to no notice, the Nicaraguan government canceled the ministry's legal status, arrested several Nicaraguan pastors and ministry partners, threatened the arrest of U.S. citizens involved with the ministry, seized the ministry's properties, and froze its bank accounts.

After spending months at a Nicaraguan prison with no access to legal counsel, no visits from their relatives, and being unable to hear the allegations against them, the trials against those arrested commenced.

During the trial, the presiding judge arbitrarily elevated the charges against these individuals to aggravated money laundering claims.

All the Nicaraguan defendants were found guilty of the elevated charges and sentenced to severe punishments, including over 10 years in prison and fines amounting to tens of millions of dollars.

These instances of wrongful targeting and persecution have unfortunately become routine actions by the Nicaraguan government.

The same government has taken similar steps against the Catholic Church, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and many other religious groups, charities, and civic organizations.

Mr. Speaker, what is currently unfolding in Nicaragua with the members of Mountain Gateway Ministries is a travesty, an injustice on the greatest scale.

From the time of their arrest to the handing down of their sentences, the treatment of these individuals and the ministry is in complete contradiction to the most fundamental freedoms and beliefs that we hold here in America, including the freedom of religion, presumption of innocence, and the guarantee of due process and equal treatment under the law.

I commend Mountain Gateway founder Jon Britton Hancock and his family, who are constituents of mine in Wyoming, for bringing this to my attention and for their tireless efforts to advocate for the just treatment and release of these individuals.

I urge President Biden, the State Department, and all of my colleagues to call on the Nicaraguan government to take prompt action to address these violations of religious freedom and abandonment of justice and due process.

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