Marco Rubio Denounces How Ortega Threatens US Interests
Nicaragua “is a democracy that has been completely annihilated,” he stated during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing.
HAVANA TIMES – US Senator Marco Rubio, Donald Trump’s nominee for Secretary of State, strongly criticized Daniel Ortega’s regime in Nicaragua during his appearance before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which is reviewing his nomination. Rubio condemned the regime’s actions, which he believes have had severe consequences for US security.
During his remarks on Wednesday, January 15, 2025, Rubio highlighted that the Ortega regime is leading a systematic offensive against the Catholic Church and has reformed the country’s Constitution to establish a family dynasty.
“It’s a democracy that has been completely annihilated,” Rubio stated, while also denouncing the political persecution of opposition figures, including the arrest of all presidential pre-candidates in 2021 and their subsequent exile.
“They have literally put opponents on planes and sent them to the United States and elsewhere around the world,” he said.
The threats listed by Marco Rubio
The nominee to oversee US foreign policy during Donald Trump’s second administration described the Ortega regime as a “major challenge” to US interests.
“First, due to migration pressure. Second, because the Nicaraguan regime is allowing people to fly to Nicaragua without visas from anywhere in the world and then transit to the United States,” he explained.
Rubio added that Nicaragua “has become the entry point for people from all over the world because they enter without a visa, pay $1,000 or whatever the current rate is, and then follow the migration route into the United States.”
In his view, this is how the Ortega regime “has directly contributed to the migration crisis” that the United States is facing on its southern border with Mexico.
As a third reason, he emphasized that the Ortega regime has invited Russia to “establish a military presence in Nicaragua, in our hemisphere.” Rubio argued that this represents “a threat to our national security that must be addressed.”
Marco Rubio on China
Rubio also pledged a robust foreign policy focused on US interests. He further warned about the dangers posed by China, which he described as the “greatest threat” to the United States.
During his Senate confirmation hearing, Rubio expressed support for the so-called “porcupine strategy,” which he explained involves making “the cost of invading Taiwan greater than the benefit” of doing so, according to EFE News Agency.
“Yes, they could achieve an invasion of Taiwan, but the price would be too high. It’s essentially deterrence. And I think that’s fundamental,” Rubio said.
As a Republican senator, Rubio has been one of the most vocal supporters of Taiwan, which is self-governed and considered by Beijing to be a renegade province.
The Secretary of State nominee, set to replace Antony Blinken, argued that the US must not only deter China from attacking Taiwan to “defend Taiwan” but also to “prevent a military intervention that would trigger a cataclysm in the Indo-Pacific.”
Rubio also warned that the invasion of Taiwan is a “core issue” for Chinese President Xi Jinping.
“We must accept the fact that, unless something drastically changes, such as a balance of power in which (China) concludes that the costs of intervening in Taiwan are too high, we will have to deal with this before the end of this decade,” he cautioned.
The future US diplomat also advocated for helping Taiwan maintain its few remaining diplomatic ties with some Latin American countries.
Rubio alleged that Panama persuaded the Dominican Republic to sever ties with Taiwan in favor of China and stressed the need to prevent Paraguay from following the same path.
The Republican senator, who has been sanctioned by the Chinese government, declared that, although Beijing has said “ugly things” about him, his role will require “having a mature and prudent dialogue with them.”