Executive Order 13851 It’s back in the news this week. The US president, Joe Biden, extended this Monday the range of action of the presidential decree -signed in November 2018, by the then president Donald Trump-, and now Representatives and entities of the sectors of the Nicaraguan economy may be sanctionedwho support the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo.
the vice president Murillo was the first senior official to be sanctioned with the executive order, entitled “Blocking the assets of certain people who contribute to the situation in Nicaragua. The first lady was punished on November 27, 2018, along with the close collaborator of the presidential couple, Néstor Moncada Lau.
The text of the presidential decree indicates that the situation in Nicaragua “constitutes an extraordinary and unusual threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States”, for which both presidents have declared “a national emergency to deal with this threat”.
From 2018 to date, more than 50 senior officials and at least eight institutions of the regime have been sanctioned by the United States; To these are added some companies linked to the presidential family.
The government of The United States has several legal tools to punish Ortega supporters: the Global Magnitsky Law; the Nicaraguan Law Act; the “Engel List” of corrupt and anti-democratic actors; and Executive Order 13851.
The sanctions have been imposed by two US institutions: the State Department and, mainly, the Treasury Department, specifically the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).
According to the original text of the executive orderNicaraguans responsible or complicit, or who have participated or attempted to participate directly or indirectly in:
- Serious human rights abuses in Nicaragua.
- Actions or policies that undermine democratic processes or institutions in Nicaragua.
- Actions or policies that threaten the peace, security or stability of Nicaragua.
- Any transaction or series of transactions involving deceptive practices or corruption.
- Be an official or have served as an official of the Government of Nicaragua as of January 10, 2007.
With the amendment, President Biden added new categories of citizens or entities to be sanctioned:
- Those responsible for or complicit in the arrest or prosecution of a personincluding an individual or media outlet disseminating information to the public, primarily due to that person’s exercise of freedom of expression, including members of the press or of assembly.
- Be owned or controlled by, or have acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, any person whose property and interests on the property are locked in accordance with this order.
- Operate or have operated in the gold sector (gold) of the economy Nicaraguan or in any other sector of the Nicaraguan economy determined by the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of State”.
Biden increases bans
The decree signed by Trump ordered a series of prohibitions:
- The making of donations by, for, or for the benefit of any person whose property and interests in property are blocked.
- The making of any contribution or provision of funds, goods or services by, to or for the benefit of any person whose property and interests in property are blocked.
- The receipt of any contribution or provision of funds, goods or services from said person.
- Any transaction that circumvents or avoids, or is intended to circumvent or avoid, causes a violation or attempts to violate any of the prohibitions set forth in this order.
- Any conspiracy formed to violate any of the prohibitions set forth in this order.
To these Trump restrictions, President Biden added some new prohibitions:
- The importation into the United States of any product of Nicaraguan origin as determined by the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Commerce.
- The export, re-export, sale or supply, directly or indirectly, from the United Statesor by a person of the United States, wherever located, of any item determined by the Secretary of Commerce, in consultation with the Secretary of State and the Secretary of the Treasury, to any person residing in Nicaragua.
- New investments in any sector of the Nicaraguan economy as determined by the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of State, by a United States person, wherever located.
- Any approval, financing, facilitation or guarantee by a person from the United States, wherever he may be.
The General Directorate of Mines (DGM), attached to the Ministry of Energy and Mines (MEM), was the first entity sanctioned with the modified executive order. The decision has put the national gold industry, whose main export market is the United States, in check.
“More than 750 million dollars were involved in the gold trade relationship with the United States. It is a significant amount,” said Ricardo Zúñiga, deputy secretary of the State Department for Latin America.
In 2021, the mining sector was consolidated as the first exporter in Nicaragua, with 880.5 million dollars, according to the Center for Export Procedures (Cetrex). Until last September, exports reached 708.7 million dollars, so it was expected that the sector could close this year with revenues of 955.9 million dollars, very close to the 1 billion with which the industry planned to close 2023.
“We’re talking gold todaybut this new authorization of the executive order allows us to analyze other sectors of the Nicaraguan economy,” Zúñiga warned.
