WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - The Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control has imposed sanctions on five Nicaraguan government officials who lead the principal financial, communications, and military agencies that enable Nicaragua's Murillo-Ortega dictatorship to repress its people.
The individuals sanctioned include Retired Major General Denis Membreno Rivas, the Director of Nicaragua's Financial Analysis Unit; former Police Chief Commissioner Aldo Martin Saenz Ulloa, the Deputy Director of the Unit; Johana Vanessa Flores Jimenez, the Minister of Labor; Celia Margarita Reyes Ochoa, the Deputy Director General of the Nicaraguan Institute of Telecommunications and Postal Services, and Major General Leonel Jose Gutierrez Lopez, the head of the Nicaraguan Army's Directorate of Military Intelligence and Counterintelligence.
'The Murillo-Ortega dictatorship has continued its domestic and international campaign of repression and tyranny to intimidate, stifle, and undermine peaceful political opponents and dissenters,' said Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent. 'We will continue to hold the dictatorship to account and to amplify the Nicaraguan people's aspirations for freedom and justice.'
The U.S. State Department alleged that since 2018, the Murillo-Ortega dictatorship has violently repressed peaceful protests, unjustly detained, tortured, and killed political opponents. This illegitimate family dynasty has also persecuted Catholic clergy and has opted to silence and banish independent media and civil society organizations. The dictatorship rewrote Nicaragua's constitution to ensure government institutions punish political opponents and allow the arbitrary monitoring and control of telecommunications systems. The State Department also alleged that the dictatorship has committed systemic labor abuses and uses security structures to monitor and silence anyone perceived to threaten their grip on power.
The targeted officials lead government agencies responsible for these acts of repression, according to the State Department.
Copyright(c) 2026 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
© 2026 AFX News
