Bianca Jagger is taking her activism — and her trademark tailored suits — to Capitol Hill, meeting with lawmakers and officials on human rights atrocities in Nicaragua.
“It’s becoming clearer and clearer to people that [President] Daniel Ortega is a brutal and murderous dictator and that he has launched an assault, a brutal assault, against the unarmed people of Nicaragua,” Jagger says.
Since April, more than 400 people have reportedly been killed in Nicaragua, where Jagger was born, in anti-government protests against Ortega.
Jagger, the founder, president and chief executive of her eponymous human rights foundation, was married to Rolling Stones lead singer Mick Jagger from 1971 to 1978.
She was front and center at an intimate gathering in downtown Washington on Monday at the home of National Beer Wholesalers Association’s Laurie Knight.
“I’m here to support something called the NICA Act, which is to cut economic aid to Daniel Ortega,” Jagger told a crowd of D.C. VIPs about the Nicaraguan Investment Conditionality Act, “because we cannot allow any more to have aid to go to a government to buy, to pay to police, to pay the paramilitary, to pay the people who are contributing to the killing of innocent people, the tortures, the rapes, and the atrocities that are taking place.”
This week, Jagger will meet with State Department officials and lawmakers before delivering a speech Thursday in New York at the Americas Society/Council of the Americas.
While the Council of Europe goodwill ambassador has been critical of President Trump — calling him a “sexual predator” who “fueled his campaign with bigotry and hate” — Jagger heaped praise on U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, who she says has “been extraordinary” in drawing attention to the situation in Nicaragua.
In a statement in July, the White House “strongly” condemned the ongoing violence in Nicaragua and accused Ortega’s government of human rights abuses.
“It is a dilemma,” Jagger, sporting a sharp black suit — said of her mixed feelings toward Trump.
“I think it is important to see good being done by some members of the administration, even though I have many issues with the policies of the Donald Trump administration.”
Although the subject was solemn, there was a lighter moment when Jagger noticed a piece of art that happened to be on display at Knight’s lux abode. After eyeing an illustration of Mick Jagger wearing a shirt bearing the message: “Who the f— is Mick?,” his former spouse, who’s been dubbed a “style icon,” let out a big laugh.
But Jagger was serious when she told ITK why she continues to speak out: “This is my call. This is my mission in life. If I can use my voice to raise important issues, I won’t forgive myself if I didn’t do it.”
Article first appeared at The Hill. Read the original here.
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