Today, we are announcing steps to impose visa restrictions on more than 500 Nicaraguan individuals and their family members. We are doing this in accordance with Presidential Proclamation 10309, which suspends entry into the United States as immigrants and nonimmigrants of members of the Government of Nicaragua and other persons who formulate, implement or benefit from policies or actions that undermine democratic institutions or impede the return to democracy in Nicaragua. These individuals include members of the Nicaraguan security services, such as the Nicaraguan National Police, penitentiary officers, judges, prosecutors, higher education officials and non-governmental actors who enable the repression and corruption of -regime as well as their family members. No member of the Nicaraguan government nor anyone who facilitates the abuses of the Ortega-Murillo regime should believe that they can travel freely to the United States.
The White House also announced an amendment to Executive Order (E.O.) 13851 on Nicaragua that expands sanctions authorities, including specific trade-related measures for Nicaragua. These new authorities will support our efforts to hold the Ortega-Murillo regime accountable. The regime’s accelerating actions this year close the space for civil society, increase its security cooperation with Russia, and silence independent voices despite broad international calls for dialogue and moderation. to the United States to act. Governments that deny the basic rights of their people or threaten the security interests of their neighbors should not expect their political, economic and commercial relations to remain unaffected.
Together with the E.O. announcement, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control has imposed sanctions on Nicaragua’s mining authority, the General Directorate of Mines, an office in the Ministry of Energy and Mines, and Reinaldo Gregorio Lenin Cerna Juarez, a close confidant of Nicaraguan President Ortega, according to E.O. 13851.
The United States, along with our allies and partners, believes that a return to democracy and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms in Nicaragua is essential. We will use available diplomatic and economic tools to promote accountability for the Ortega-Murillo regime, reiterate our call for the immediate and unconditional release of political prisoners, and encourage the restoration of civic space for the people of Nicaragua.
For more information on today’s action, see the White House and Treasury statements.
