Salazar's Nicaragua Hearing Covered China, Russia and the OAS All at Once — Here's What Was Actually Said

Rep. María Elvira Salazar (R-FL), Chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, gestures toward a visual map of the Chinese-backed $500 million Punta Huete airfield project in Nicaragua during a hearing titled "Confronting the Totalitarian Ortega-Murillo Regime" on Capitol Hill. During the session, Salazar warned of Beijing's growing strategic footprint in the region and its implications for U.S. national security. (Credit: Photo: Office of Representative María Elvira Salazar / U.S. House of Representatives (salazar.house.)

A hearing that finally kept its date

The House Foreign Affairs Committee's Western Hemisphere Subcommittee gaveled in Tuesday afternoon for a session titled "Confronting the Totalitarian Ortega-Murillo Regime." The session started at 2 p.m. in Room 2200 of the Rayburn Building with chairwoman María Elvira Salazar (R-FL) running the show with only one witness in the chair: Ana Quintana-Lovett, who holds the State Department post of deputy assistant secretary covering Central America and migration.