A senior official from the United States Department of State responded to a question posed to him Article 66 about the latest measures of the Daniel Ortega dictatorship, which intends forcing Nicaraguan financial institutions to evade restrictions imposed on figures of the Sandinista government who have been designated by the Department of the Treasury and the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).
The official said, on condition of not mentioning it directly until the entity issues an official communication, that the United States is aware of the long list of legal reforms that Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo have promoted, and that they are evidence that in Managua the consolidation and absolute concentration of power in the Executive is underway.
He assessed that the concentration of power in the Executive and the extension of the terms of the heads of the Army and Police, added to the attempt to create ways to evade the sanctions imposed by the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and the European Union, will end. by further isolate Nicaragua.
The source was categorical in affirming to this media that the United States sanctions and visa restrictions on the repressive operators of the Nicaraguan dictatorship remain in force and emphasized that they have been applied based on international law, in response to the arguments of the spokesmen of the Sandinista regime and other autocratic regimes, who describe them as “unilateral aggressions.”
When asked directly whether the United States could allow national banks to bypass the international ban, protected by a reform of the regulations of the Superintendence of Banks and Other Financial Institutions (SIBOIF)in which it orders local banks to practically limit themselves to restricting access to the banking system to people “designated on lists” only if they face accusations of money laundering or terrorist financing. The official limited himself to saying that that country continues to use economic and diplomatic tools to promote accountability of those who support repression and prevent Nicaragua from returning to the path of democracy.
He insisted that Washington “will keep track of any action that seeks to evade sanctions and we will respond accordingly”
Since April 2018, the Treasury Department has imposed targeted financial sanctions against 51 individuals and 11 entities in Nicaragua. The State Department also announced measures to impose visa restrictions on more than 1,750 people. These selective measures focus on entities and individuals that support and facilitate the repression of the Ortega-Murillo regime.
Among those sanctioned are deputies of Parliament, controlled entirely by Daniel Ortega and his wife, Rosario Murillo. In addition, they have appointed police chiefs, army chiefs, ministers, political secretaries of the FSLN, presidential advisors, mayors, judicial and electoral magistrates, Murillo herself and four of her children.
