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The Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced this Saturday sanctions against Luis Roberto Cañas Novoa, Deputy Minister of the Interior of the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo in Nicaragua, for his involvement in serious human rights violations.
The measure was announced on the eighth anniversary of the start of popular protests in Nicaragua, on April 18, 2018, when government repression resulted in more than 325 protesters being killed, according to figures from the State Department.
The sanctions against Cañas Novoa, imposed under Section 7031(c), include visa restrictions, a ban on entering the United States, and asset freezes.
Rubio described the regime's actions as a brutal wave of repression against the Nicaraguans who bravely opposed the increasing levels of tyranny, corruption, and abuses from the regime.
The action this Saturday adds to a week of intense pressure from the Trump administration against Managua: just last Thursday, the Department of the Treasury had sanctioned two children of the presidential couple, five more officials, and seven companies in the gold sector.
The children sanctioned on Thursday are Daniel Edmundo Ortega Murillo, 46 years old, coordinator of the Council of Communication and Citizenship, and Maurice Facundo Ortega Murillo, 40, presidential delegate for sports.
Among the officials appointed that same day was the Deputy Minister of Energy and Mines, Santiago Hernán Bermúdez Tapia, and the Chinese citizen Bian Feiwu, president of Zhong Fu Development S.A.
The seven mining companies sanctioned on Thursday include Exportadora de Metales S.A., Grupo Minero Xiloá S.A., Thomas Metal S.A., Nicaragua Xinxin Linze Mineria Group S.A., Brother Metal S.A., Zhong Fu Development S.A. and Santa Rita Mining Company S.A.
The catalyst for the sanctions on the mining sector was the confiscation, in 2025, of the gold processing plant of BHMB Mining Nicaragua S.A., a company with U.S. investment founded in 2019, without any compensation.
In March 2026, investors in BHMB initiated legal action against the Nicaraguan government, claiming over 80 million dollars in damages.
The Department of the Treasury accused the regime of having restructured the gold sector since 2020 into a network of shell companies and intermediaries designed to generate foreign currency, launder sanctioned assets, and strengthen political control for its own benefit.
The Department of State added that the dictatorship has continuously consolidated its illegitimate power in the hands of the ruling family, appointing its children as officials of the dictatorship to carry out its dynastic objectives.
Nicaragua recorded gold exports of 1.96 billion dollars in 2025, a 44.4% increase over the previous year, making it the country's main export product according to the Central Bank of Nicaragua.
The week of April 16 to 18 represents the widest and most coordinated action by Washington against the Ortega regime to date, combining Treasury sanctions on the mining sector with State Department sanctions for human rights violations, under the maximum pressure policy of the Trump administration.
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