; and (iii) to seek the repeal of problematic laws such as the foreign agents law passed in Nicaragua in 2020. (2) The Catholic Church in Nicaragua suffered— (A) 127 attacks in 2022; (B) 54 attacks in 2021; (C) 58 attacks in 2020; (D) 76 attacks in 2019; and (E) 81 attacks in 2018. (3) In a 2022 report by the Economist Intelligence Unit, Nicaragua was listed as an authoritarian regime and one of the least democratic countries in the Western Hemisphere, along with Cuba and Venezuela. (4) According to the 2021 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices published by the Department of State, members of civil society and student leaders involved in the April 2018 protests in Nicaragua were subjected to torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. (5) According to human rights organizations, the Ortega regime has 150 political prisoners, including prisoners in solitary confinement. (6) In 2022, the Ortega regime rejected a United States envoy, declared the head of the European Union persona non grata, and closed the Vatican embassy in Managua. (7) On February 9, 2023, the authoritarian Ortega regime— (A) expelled 222 Nicaraguan nationals who had been unjustly imprisoned for exercising their fundamental rights