Bianca Jagger Asks Washington to Cut Funding for Daniel Ortega

HAVANA TIMES – Human Rights activist Bianca Jagger has been in Washington since Monday, where she is holding meetings with representatives of international organizations such as the OAS and the US government in search of greater pressure on the president of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega, reports dpa news.

Jagger, who was born in Nicaragua in 1945, met today with the Undersecretary of State for the Western Hemisphere, Francisco Palmieri.

“We share her deep concern about the continued violations of human rights by the government,” the high State Department official tweeted after the meeting. “The repression, violence and arbitrary arrests perpetrated by the Ortega government must stop! We are with the people of Nicaragua.”

On Monday, Jagger held meetings with the secretary general of the Organization of American States (OAS), Luis Almagro, and with the executive secretary of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), Paulo Abrao.

The former actress heads the Bianca Jagger Human Rights Foundation which has been denouncing Ortega since April when the protests began against the government of the former Sandinista guerrilla who ordered the violent repression against demonstrators. 

Since then, at least 320 persons have died, according to national and international human rights organizations, and nearly 3,000 have been injured.

“It is increasingly clear that Daniel Ortega is a brutal dictator who launched an assault, a brutal assault against the unarmed people of Nicaragua,” said Jagger Monday night during a ceremony in Washington, reported “The Hill” newspaper.

“I’m here to support something called the ‘Nica Act’, which would cut economic aid to Daniel Ortega. We must not allow aid to go to the Government to pay the police, to the military and to those who are contributing to the murder of innocent people and the tortures, rapes and atrocities that are taking place,” said Jagger.

The “Nica Act” is a bill sponsored by legislators of Hispanic origin which would have the US veto loans that Nicaragua requests from multilateral organizations of which Washington is part, if “free, fair and transparent” elections are not held as well as changes in the institutional order of the Central American country.

The text was approved by the House of Representatives last October but must receive the green light from the Senate and the signature of Donald Trump to become law.

According to “The Hill”, Jagger’s agenda in Washington also included meetings with legislators.

On Thursday, she will be in New York, where she will give a conference on the situation in Nicaragua, organized by Americas Society / Council of the Americas, which is considered the most influential business organization in the hemisphere.