WASHINGTON, April 16 - The U.S. Treasury Department on Thursday announced sanctions on five people and seven companies operating in Nicaragua's gold sector, according to a Treasury statement. The measures name two sons of the country's co-presidents among those sanctioned and identify another listed individual as Santiago Hernan Bermudez Tapia, Nicaragua's vice minister of energy and mines.
The statement, attributed to the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), said the Nicaraguan entities sanctioned were those that had assumed gold concessions that previously belonged to the individuals targeted by the action.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent characterized the action as a response to what he described as efforts by the Nicaraguan government, led by Rosaria Murillo and Daniel Ortega, to boost state revenues through the "confiscating American investments" in the country. He further said: "The United States will not allow the illicit confiscation of American-owned assets and will continue to target revenue streams that empower the corrupt Murillo-Ortega regime," he said.
Details of the sanctions
The Treasury's move lists five named individuals and seven corporate entities tied to gold operations in Nicaragua. OFAC's statement specifies that the corporate targets had taken over gold concessions that were previously held by those now listed under the sanctions.
The roster of sanctioned parties includes family members of Nicaragua's leadership and a high-level ministry official. OFAC's designation links these actors directly to the country's gold sector and to the reassignment of mining concessions.
Context and immediate effects
The Treasury statement frames the sanctions as part of a U.S. effort to prevent what it describes as the illicit seizure of American-owned assets and to disrupt revenue channels that support the Murillo-Ortega administration. The sanctions are directed at actors within the gold-mining segment of Nicaragua's economy and at the legal entities that assumed control of mineral concessions.
At this stage, the Treasury's announcement focuses on designations and stated intent; the public statement identifies the individuals, the role of the vice minister of energy and mines, and the corporate entities that assumed prior concessions.
What was disclosed
OFAC's public statement provides the names of the targeted individuals and companies and links them to specific concessions in the gold sector. The Treasury quoted Secretary Bessent directly in explaining the rationale for the action.