US sanctions sons of Nicaragua's leaders and officials in the country's gold industry

MEXICO CITY (AP) — The U.S. government slapped sanctions Thursday on two sons of Nicaragua's husband-and-wife copresidents, Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo, as well as other officials and companies tied to the country's gold industry, saying they help prop up a repressive government.

The Treasury Department sanctions come as U.S. President Donald Trump exerts more pressure on adversarial countries in Latin America than any other U.S. president in recent history. While the U.S. has long accused Nicaragua of repression, the country had largely escaped the heavy hand felt in countries like Cuba and Venezuela.

Nicaragua’s government has been carrying out a crackdown on dissent since mass social protests in 2018 that the government violently repressed.

Ortega and Murillo’s sons, Maurice Ortega and Daniel Edmundo Ortega, both government officials, were the highest profile people to be sanctioned on Thursday, which the department said was due to their roles in the government.

Nicaragua’s government did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the sanctions.

Longtime leader Ortega officially named Murillo — his wife and a former vice president — the copresiden t a year ago. Observers said the move appeared aimed at consolidating the family's grip on Nicaragua and ensuring that power is handed down to their children.

The U.S. Treasury said Thursday in a statement that the other companies and officials sanctioned used corruption within the gold industry to fill government coffers. It said that a number of those sanctioned were also involved in the seizure last year of a mining company that included U.S investments.

“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,” U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent said in a statement.

Last month, U.N. experts said the Nicaraguan government used corruption as a tool to finance systemic political repression and stay in power.

Nicaragua’s government has also imprisoned adversaries, religious leaders, journalists and more, then exiled them, stripping hundreds of their Nicaraguan citizenship and possessions. Since 2018, it has shuttered more than 5,000 organizations, largely religious, and forced thousands to flee the country.

The government often accuses critics and organizations it targets of working for the U.S. and its enemies to undermine its power.

___

Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america