Nicaragua

1954-10-11

Gustavo Eduardo Porras Cortes (Porras) is designated for being a current official of the Government of Nicaragua and for being the President of the Nicaraguan National Assembly (NNA), an entity that has enacted significant actions or policies that undermine democratic processes or institutions in Nicaragua, pursuant to E.O. 13851 and NHRAA.  Porras is the senior-most political operator of President Ortega and exerts significant control over the Institute of Social Security and Ministry of Health with the approval of Vice President Rosario Murillo.  On November 27, 2018, OFAC designated Rosario Murillo for being an official of the Government of Nicaragua.  The NNA enacted an amnesty law in early June 2019 that conditionally pardons individuals who took part in the protests beginning April 18, 2018, but requires protesters to abstain from expressing themselves in a future protest or risk having amnesty revoked.  The law also pardons police officers and parapolice fighters who took part in the Ortega regime’s violent repression against protesters, which included the killing of hundreds of protesters.  In November and December 2018, the NNA also banned nine human rights and pro-democracy organizations from operating in Nicaragua.

https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sm715

2019-06-21

US

Nicaragua Investment Conditionality Act of 2018, Public Law 115-335, as amended, (formerly named Nicaragua Human Rights and Anticorruption Act of 2018)

OFAC country specific

Nicaragua

Blocking Property, Suspending Entry

• https://ofac.treasury.gov/faqs/topic/2581

Nicaragua Human Rights and Anticorruption Act of 2018 This bill imposes restrictions and sanctions on institutions and individuals responsible for the Nicaraguan government's violence and infringement of the civil rights of protesters. The Department of the Treasury shall take action to restrict international financial institutions, including those affiliated with the World Bank Group and the Inter-American Development Bank, from extending financial or technical assistance to Nicaragua's government and to develop policies for future lending that will advance human rights in the country. The President shall impose sanctions on foreign persons responsible for acts of corruption, significant human rights violations, violence against protesters in Nicaragua, or provided material support to such actions. Sanctions include blocking the assets of sanctioned individuals and barring them from entry into the United States. The Department of State shall report to Congress about various topics, including Nicaragua's efforts strengthening the rule of law and democratic governance, combatting corruption, and protecting human rights. The President may temporarily waive the sanctions if the State Department certifies that Nicaragua has taken effective steps on these issues. The President may also waive the sanctions if it is in the national interests of the United States to do so. The bill also directs the State Department devise a strategy for engaging Nicaragua's civil society to strengthen human rights protections and anti-corruption efforts.

SDN