US, EU Issue New Nicaragua Designations

The U.S. and the EU this week announced a coordinated set of sanctions against Nicaragua for the country’s “fraudulent” presidential elections that have kept the Daniel Ortega regime in power. The Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned six Nicaraguan government and military officials, and the EU sanctioned seven officials and three government entities. The U.S. and the EU announced the sanctions Jan. 10.

OFAC’s sanctions target military officials Bayardo De Jesus Pulido Ortiz and Bayardo Ramon Rodriguez Ruiz and Defense Minister Rosa Adelina Barahona De Rivas. Also sanctioned were Celina Delgado Castellon, the deputy director general of the Nicaraguan Institute of Telecommunications and Mail (TELCOR), and TELCOR Director General Nahima Janett Diaz Flores. The U.S. also sanctioned Ramon Humberto Calderon Vindell, a retired military official and former president of the board of directors of Petroleos de Nicaragua, the country’s state-owned oil company.

The EU designated presidential advisers Camila Antonia Ortega Murillo and Laureano Facundo Ortega Murillo as well as several officials of the Supreme Electoral Council, including President Laureano Facundo Ortega Murillo, Vice President Cairo Melvin Amador Arrieta and council member Lumberto Ignacio Campbell Hooker. Like OFAC, the EU also sanctioned TELCOR director Flores, as well as Luis Angel Montenegro Espinoza, the superintendent of the Superintendency of Banks and other Financial Institutions of Nicaragua. Also designated were the National Police of Nicaragua, the Supreme Electoral Council and the TELCOR.