; Whereas, on the night of April 20, 2018, a pro-government mob set fire to the offices of independent radio station Radio Darío in the city of León; Whereas, on April 20, 2018, Ambassador Michael Kozak, the Acting Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor of the Department of State, said, Nicaragua is going in the wrong direction on many fronts and that is one of them, of media freedom. But also on all the basics, I mean, it’s a long litany of torture, extrajudicial killing, the elections were a sham … the Ortega government has basically shut down a lot of the opposition, a lot of the independent civil society organizations as well as the free media ; Whereas, on April 21, 2018, Nicaraguan journalist Ángel Gahona was shot and killed by pro-government security forces while broadcasting live on Facebook; Whereas, on April 21, 2018, the Department of State issued a travel advisory for Nicaragua and since then has continued to advise travelers to reconsider travel to Nicaragua due to ongoing violence; Whereas, on April 22, 2018, the Department of State issued a statement that we condemn the violence and the excessive force used by police and others against civilians who are exercising their constitutional right to freedom of expression and assembly ; Whereas, on April 23, 2018, the Department of State ordered the departure of family members accompanying United States Government personnel in Nicaragua and also authorized the departure of such personnel; Whereas, on Mother’s Day in Nicaragua, May 31, 2018, press reports stated that peaceful marches to support the mothers of the victims of the earlier protests encountered violence from the repressive police and shock forces , leaving 15 dead and nearly 200 injured in the cities of Managua, Estelí and Masaya