The sanctions imposed by the United States on the Daniel Ortega regime in recent months have once again caused movements among the main executive cadres of Ortega, this time placed in the Nicaraguan Mining Company (Eniminas).
President Daniel Ortega decided to remove the retired Major General from the presidency of Eniminas Ramon Calderon Vindella key operator of the financial business of the economic group forged with Venezuelan cooperation, according to the presidential agreement 19-2022published in the Gazette this Tuesday, February 22.
Eniminas was created in 2017 by the Executive to guarantee its participation in one of the most buoyant sectors of the local economy with registered exports of 880.5 million dollars in 2021 alone. Instead of Calderón Vindell, Ortega appointed Ruy Delgado López as the new president , who held the position of general manager of the state company, according to official data collected by CONFIDENTIAL.
Calderón Vindell, who became inspector general of the Army —number three in the military ranks—, served for years as the deputy of the FSLN treasurer, Francisco López Centeno, directly managing Alba Generación, according to journalistic records.
Now Calderón Vindell follows in the footsteps of López when he was sanctioned in 2018, which also forced him to be removed by Ortega from various state institutions as a way to protect the business interests of the portfolios they were managing.
Minister Mansell was also out
Ortega also removed the Minister of Energy from the board of directors of Eniminas and the Nicaraguan Oil Company (PETRONIC). Salvador Mansell, in accordance with presidential agreement 20-2022. The government measures came 42 days after the US Treasury Department punished the former soldier and three months after doing the same with Mansell.
The former Minister of Energy is known for his closeness to Vice President Rosario Murillo. He is, from that State position, one of the people who guarantees the particular decoration of Managua with the so-called trees of life, a symbol of the power of the official.
Unlike the sanctions against retired Major General Calderón, which do not affect the gold industry, Mansell’s sanctions did require the completion of some reforms to the electricity sectorsubtracting functions from the minister to hand them over to the deputy minister Estela María Martínez Cerrato as the power to sign the documents referring to the rectory of the electricity sector.
Precisely Martínez Cerrato was appointed instead of Mansell to occupy the positions of the directors of Eniminas and PETRONIC.
In the sanctions imposed on Calderón at the time, the United States warned that state participation in the mining sector “increased, especially in gold extraction, through joint ventures with private companies.”
“The value of Nicaraguan gold exports has increased dramatically in recent years, boosting profits for its allies in the private sector and increasing the income of Eniminas, which is managed by important figures in the ruling party,” assured the Control Office of Assets (OFAC).
For his part, Mansell was part of a group of officials punished with the first sanctions imposed by the United States after the voting last November, in which Ortega was re-elected without electoral competition after increasing repression, imprisoning seven opposition candidates. , but also 40 people, including civic, political and business leaders.
The regime is experiencing its moment of greatest international illegitimacy under the global demand that it suspend the police state and release the 177 political prisoners in the country.
