United States sanctions the core of the Ortega-Murillo regime's Chinese mining network
Maurice and Daniel Edmundo Ortega Murillo were sanctioned by the Treasury Department as part of a new blow to the co-presidential family core. The institution also designated five individuals and seven companies linked to the gold business. The measures target the opaque Chinese mining network that finances the regime, including companies that have benefited from state concessions. Washington also points to business networks associated with this capital and schemes for the dispossession of foreign investments.
TL;DR
- The U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned seven companies and five individuals linked to Nicaragua's gold business.
- The sanctioned individuals include two sons of Nicaraguan co-presidents Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo: Maurice Facundo Ortega Murillo and Daniel Edmundo Ortega Murillo.
- Washington alleges these sanctions target an opaque Chinese mining financial network that helps the regime generate money and maintain political control.
- The sanctions also address the confiscation of a mining plant with U.S. investment, BHMB Mining Nicaragua S.A., by regime-linked entities.
- Several Chinese companies, including Thomas Metal S.A., Exportadora de Metales Sociedad Anónima (EMSA), and Grupo Minero Xiloá S.A., are named in relation to the regime's gold business.
- OFAC also sanctioned the deputy minister of Energy and Mines, Santiago Hernán Bermúdez Tapia, and others for facilitating operations within the regime's mining scheme.