Treasury Department sanctions four Nicaraguans, including president’s daughter

The Treasury Department Wednesday blacklisted four Nicaraguan officials, including a daughter of President Daniel Ortega, over human rights abuses and efforts to undermine democracy. 

The Treasury Department targeted Camila Antonia Ortega Murillo, the coordinator of the Creative Economy Commission and the president’s daughter; Leonardo Ovidio Reyes Ramirez, president of the Central Bank of Nicaragua; Edwin Ramon Castro Rivera, a deputy of the Nicaraguan National Assembly; and Julio Modesto Rodriguez Balladares, a brigadier general in the Nicaraguan army. 

“President Ortega’s actions are harming Nicaraguans and driving the country deeper into tyranny,” Director of the Office of Foreign Assets Control Andrea M. Gacki said in a statement. “It’s clear the Ortega regime intends to continue its suppression of the Nicaraguan people. The United States will continue to expose those officials who continue to ignore the will of its citizens.”  

The sanctions freeze any of the target’s assets that are in the U.S. and bar Americans from doing business with them.

The U.S. levied the sanctions in response to the four people’s involvement in the government, which has largely solidified its control under Ortega and accused of a string of human rights abuses, including law enforcement’s brutal use of force, torture against detainees and support for armed groups outside the government’s structure that harm the president’s critics.

“It has become clear, including in the past few days alone, that under President Ortega, Nicaragua is becoming an international pariah, moving farther away from democracy,” State Department spokesperson Ned Price said on Wednesday.

Camila Ortega is being sanctioned over her role as an adviser to her father and manager of television station Canal 13, which disseminates pro-government propaganda. The other three people sanctioned are being targeted due to their influence over the Guatemalan economy, elections and armed forces.