Due to inclement weather, this event will now be held as a virtual event only from 1 - 2 pm.
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Please note this is a hybrid event - you have the option to attend in person or virtually. Registrations are required for all attendees. For in-person attendees, the event will run from 12 - 2 pm and will include lunch. The live stream will begin shortly after 1 pm (virtual attendees will be sent a link for the event via email).
The February Latin America & Caribbean Luncheon Group will explore the escalating crisis in Nicaragua and the conundrum it presents for the US and other partners across the region. Our panelists will include four men who were held as political prisoners by Nicaragua's authoritarian leader Daniel Ortega, who has been targeting his political opponents and critics for years.
Francisco Aguirre Sacasa, Juan Sebastian Chamorro, Juan Lorenzo Holmann, and Luis Rivas were unexpectedly released by Ortega on February 8, 2023 and were flown to the United States on a plane chartered by the U.S. Department of State. Now residing in the U.S., they will discuss the Ortega regime's escalating repression and wide-spread human rights abuses, its deepening partnerships with China and Russia, its weaponization of migration against the United States, and the absence of effective incentives for the regime to restore democracy and respect basic human rights.
Francisco Aguirre Sacasa was Nicaragua’s former foreign minister and ambassador to the United States. He also was director of external affairs for the World Bank, where he worked for 28 years.
Juan Sebastian Chamorro Garcia is a Nicaraguan economist, businessman and politician and previously served as Vice Minister of Finance. He was a candidate for president in the 2021 Nicaraguan general election. He is currently a Visiting Fellow at the University of Notre Dame.
Juan Lorenzo Hollman Chamorro is the General Manager of LA PRENSA, which was founded by his grandfather and is the oldest newspaper in Nicaragua and one of the oldest in Central America. At the time of his capture, Mr. Holmann was regional vice president of the Inter-American Press Association, and in October 2021, IAPA awarded him the Grand Prize for Freedom of the Press. In October 2022, while still in prison, he was reelected vice president for a second term
Luis Rivas Anduray is a non-resident senior fellow at the Inter-American Dialogue and a Principal at Varyag Consulting Group, a strategic advisory firm. Rivas spent more than 20 years in the banking industry, where he held leading executive positions, such as Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice-President of Grupo Promerica, and Chief Executive Officer of Banpro, the largest bank in Nicaragua.
Location
Setting: Hybrid DACOR Bacon House OR Online 1801 F Street, NW Washington, DC 20006 UNITED STATES
