“La Senadora Ashley Moody es una luchadora por la libertad y la democracia y no te defraudará.”
Tampa, Fla. — In case you missed it, Jaime Arellano published an op-ed in Tampa Free Press entitled, “I Survived Nicaragua’s Prisons – Senator Ashley Moody Is Fighting For My American Dream.”
Read the op-ed by Jaime Arellano HERE or below:
“My name is Jaime Arellano.
I am a Nicaraguan political prisoner, or rather, I was.
I survived years of imprisonment, torture, and persecution at the hands of Daniel Ortega’s Communist regime because I dared to speak the truth and stand up for freedom in my country.
I came to Florida because America gave me something Nicaragua stole from me – my hope. My dignity. My life.
I tell you this not for sympathy. I tell you this because I know what is at stake in this election — and I want every Florida voter to understand it too.
I have seen firsthand what happens when government becomes too powerful and too unaccountable to the people it is meant to serve.
I have seen what happens when leaders are never held responsible for their crimes. I have lived it. And I promise you, you do not want that.
This is exactly why Senator Ashley Moody’s work means so much to me, personally.
As an American. As a Latino.
When Senator Moody stood in Miami to announce the historic indictment of former Cuban President Raúl Castro for the murder of four Cuban Americans, I felt something I had not felt in a very long time: Justice.
For decades, the leaders of Communist regimes across Latin America have operated with complete impunity, imprisoning dissidents, murdering innocent people, and oppressing their own while the world looked the other way.
Senator Moody is sending a message that America will never normalize relations with dictators and that accountability will always follow those who murder and torture their own.
As President Ronald Reagan once said: “freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.”
I know that better than most. I have lived it.
Senator Moody understands that freedom must be actively defended, not just celebrated.
She has been one of the loudest voices in Washington standing up for the Cuban, Venezuelan, and Nicaraguan people still suffering under Communist oppression.
She understands that what happens in Latin America does not stay in Latin America – it follows families to Florida and it shapes the lives of millions of Americans who came here seeking the freedom their home countries ripped away from them.
But Senator Moody’s commitment to freedom does not stop at our borders. She is fighting every day for the freedoms of Floridians right here at home. These are not the actions of a politician who talks about freedom. These are the actions of someone who fights for it.
I know what Democrats offer – I have seen their vision of government play out in Nicaragua. We have seen it ruin a once beautiful Venezuela. And we’re seeing it in Cuba today.
Bigger government. Less freedom. More control. Open borders that benefit the criminal organizations that terrorize communities. And imprisonment for anyone who dares to speak up.
I did not survive a Communist prison to watch America slide toward the same failures that destroyed my homeland.
Florida is the beating heart of freedom in this country. It is where people like me come when we have nowhere else to turn. It is our last hope for a free life.And Senator Ashley Moody understands that responsibility – she carries it with her every day as she walks into the United States Senate.
I survived Daniel Ortega’s prisons in Nicaragua. I am a proud American.
And this November, I am asking you to vote for Senator Ashley Moody.
She fights for the freedom I nearly lost everything to find.
Florida has a fighter with Senator Moody. She understands that ‘libertad y democracia’ is not just a saying. It’s hope.
La Senadora Ashley Moody es una luchadora por la libertad y la democracia y no te defraudará.
Vota por Ashley Moody este Noviembre. Ella es nuestra luchadora en Washington.”
###