1963-04-22

Col. Pereira, CST 2C. S. 2C. O. Casa No. 1341, Managua, Managua, Nicaragua

8882204630000A, National ID No.

Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated three Nicaraguan government officials, Ramon Antonio Avellan Medal, Lumberto Ignacio Campbell Hooker, and Roberto Jose Lopez Gomez, who have had a role in directing entities engaged in human rights abuses, election fraud, and corruption. Roberto Jose Lopez Gomez (Lopez) is being designated pursuant to E.O. 13851 for being a current official of the Government of Nicaragua, and for being the Director of the Nicaraguan Social Security Institute (INSS), an entity that has, or whose members have, engaged in a transaction or series of transactions involving deceptive practices or corruption by or on behalf of, or otherwise related to the Government of Nicaragua, or a current or former official, such as misappropriation of public assets or expropriation of private assets for personal gain or political purposes, corruption related to government contracts, or bribery. Lopez’s April 16, 2018 announcement of changes to the INSS sparked the protests that marked the onset of the political crisis.  The INSS is one of the main vehicles facilitating corruption, and has been used as a government slush fund.  The INSS has been implicated in corruption scandals and money laundering schemes under Lopez’ watch, from financing a multimillion dollar high-rise on land owned by Lopez, to favoring contracts with government-affiliated construction firms and pharmaceutical suppliers, to making illegitimate payments to officials via shell companies.  The INSS gives out loans significantly above cost, then allows borrowers to default on the loan but clears the debt by allowing them to turn over assets worth much less than the value of the loan.

https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sm828

2019-11-07

US

Executive Order 13851 of November 27, 2018 Blocking Property of Certain Persons Contributing to the Situation in Nicaragua

OFAC country specific

Nicaragua

Blocking Property, Suspending Entry

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

On November 27, 2018, the President, invoking the authority of, inter alia, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701–1706) (IEEPA), issued Executive Order 13851 (83 FR 61505, November 29, 2018) (E.O. 13851). In E.O. 13851, the President determined that the situation in Nicaragua, including the violent response by the Government of Nicaragua to the protests that began on April 18, 2018, and the Ortega regime's systematic dismantling and undermining of democratic institutions and the rule of law, its use of indiscriminate violence and repressive tactics against civilians, and its corruption leading to the destabilization of Nicaragua's economy, constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States, and declared a national emergency to deal with that threat.