Wall St Journal Article
https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-imposes-sanctions-on-nicaraguas-authoritarian-regime-11666657991
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U.S. Imposes Sanctions on Nicaragua’s Authoritarian Regime Sanctions target Central American country’s gold industry, impose visa restrictions on 500 backers of President Daniel Ortega
By Jos de Crdoba Follow Oct. 24, 2022 8:33 pm ET
Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega has dismantled virtually all political opposition.
President Biden increased the pressure on Nicaragua’s authoritarian regime Monday, sanctioning the country’s gold industry and imposing visa restrictions on more than 500 key supporters of President Daniel Ortega.
The sanctions are the latest round of U.S. moves directed against Mr. Ortega’s government, which has dismantled virtually all political opposition, closed down all critical media and imprisoned scores of political foes, students, journalists, civic leaders and Roman Catholic priests. Stepped-up actions by the Ortega government against civil society groups, its increasing security cooperation with Russia and its silencing of independent voices compelled the U.S. to act, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.
An executive order signed by Mr. Biden targets Nicaragua’s thriving gold sector, which the Ortega government uses to fund “authoritarian and destabilizing activities,” the White House said in a statement. The executive order allows the U.S. to identify other areas of the Nicaraguan economy that could be subject to sanctions. In July, the U.S. removed Nicaragua from the list of countries that can export sugar to the U.S. with reduced import tariffs. Mr. Ortega’s wife, Rosario Murillo, who serves as vice president and also acts as the Nicaraguan government’s spokeswoman, declined to comment. Eric Farnsworth, the vice president of the Americas Society, a Washington-based think tank, said the U.S. move seeks to punish Mr. Ortega without damaging the overall Nicaraguan economy. “They are chilling potential U.S. investment in the sector by making it toxic to other investors,” he said.
Mr. Farnsworth said it was unlikely that the latest sanctions would prompt Mr. Ortega to reinstate democracy or free political prisoners in Nicaragua. “He’s proven he is willing to do anything to stay in power,” he said. The U.S. sanctioned the General Directorate of Mines, which manages most mining operations for the Nicaraguan government. Any assets held by the mining entity in the U.S. will be blocked, Nicaragua produces and exports some $900 million of gold, most of it to the United States.
While U.S. citizens won’t be able to do business with the directorate, the U.S. Treasury said in a statement. Nicaragua produces and exports some $900 million of gold, most of it to the U.S., said Manuel Orozco, an analyst at the Inter-American Dialogue, a Washington-based think tank. “This means U.S. clients will be lost as long as the regime continues its repression,” he said. Lenin Cerna, who was head of state security when Mr. Ortega first served as president of Nicaragua in 1985, was also sanctioned.
Mr. Blinken said that more than 500 Nicaraguan officials, including members of Nicaraguan security services, prison officials, judges, prosecutors and officials in the country’s higher education system face visa restrictions. “No member of the Nicaraguan government nor anyone who facilitates the Ortega-Murillo regime’s abuses should believe they can travel freely to the United States,” Mr. Blinken said.
Mr. Ortega, who has ruled Nicaragua for the last 15 years, won a fourth consecutive election in 2021 after detaining his seven would-be rivals on a range of charges. That victory was declared illegitimate by the European Union and the U.S., which later sanctioned regime officials, including Ms. Murillo and some of Mr. Ortega’s children who hold positions in the government. Since then, Mr. Ortega has widened his crackdown on opposition, closing and confiscating media companies and private universities. His government has closed civil society groups, expelled Catholic nuns and detained a bishop and eight Catholic priests on various charges. The regime has closed down more than 2,000 nongovernmental organizations, according to the White House. Mr. Ortega’s political repression has led to a surge in Nicaraguans who have left the country, many settling in neighboring Costa Rica, while others head to the U.S. In the fiscal year that ended in September, U.S. Customs and Border Protection apprehended 164,600 migrants from Nicaragua, more than three times as many as in the previous year.
Write to Jos de Crdoba at jose.decordoba@wsj.com