Related videos:
The United States Department of the Treasury imposed sanctions on Thursday on two sons of the dictator Daniel Ortega and his wife Rosario Murillo, along with five other individuals and seven companies linked to the gold sector in Nicaragua, for facilitating the corrupt control of the dictatorship over this industry and the confiscation of property from American citizens.
According to the statement published by the U.S. Embassy in Managua, the two sanctioned sons are Maurice Facundo Ortega Murillo, presidential delegate for sports, and Daniel Edmundo Ortega Murillo, coordinator of the Council of Communication and Citizenship, an office controlled by their mother Rosario Murillo.
Among the individuals also listed is Santiago Hernán Bermúdez Tapia, the Deputy Minister of Energy and Mines of Nicaragua, whose ministry was directly involved in the expropriation of assets from a company with American capital.
The seven sanctioned companies include Brother Metal S.A., Grupo Minero Xiloa S.A. (GRUMIXSA), Thomas Metal S.A., Santa Rita Mining Co. and Exportadora de Metales S.A., among other entities that the Treasury identifies as part of a network of shell companies and intermediaries designed to generate foreign currency for the regime.
The direct trigger for the measure was the forced confiscation, in September 2025, of the facilities of BHMB Mining Nicaragua S.A., a company with U.S. and British investment of approximately 80 million dollars that operated the mining concession "La Guadalupana." According to official sources, regime agents stormed the facilities, expelled the security personnel, and took control of the operation illegally.
The United States government had previously warned that it would impose sanctions on the entire Nicaraguan gold industry if the regime did not reverse the confiscation. The Treasury made it clear that it would not allow the illegal confiscation of assets belonging to American citizens and companies.
Filed under: