The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the United States Department of the Treasury sanctioned on Thursday, April 16, 2026, Daniel Edmundo Ortega and Maurice Ortegachildren of the dictators Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo. The sanctions also affected five regime operators in the mining sector and seven Chinese mining companies complicit in the dictatorship.
The Ortega-Murillo brothers were sanctioned in accordance with Executive Order 13851, for being officials of the Government of Nicaragua. Daniel Edmundo Ortega is currently head of the Communication and Citizenship Council of Nicaragua, while Maurice Ortega serves as Nicaragua’s Presidential Delegate for Sports.
Along with the children of the dictatorial couple, the following were sanctioned: the vice minister of Energy and Mines, Santiago Hernán Bermúdez Tapia; the legal representative of the International Mining Company, Sociedad Anónima (Comintsa), Nelson Francisco Sobalvarro; and the lawyer Lester Matus Tamariz. All of them accused by the US of having facilitated the confiscation of properties belonging to US citizens.
Bermúdez was sanctioned in his capacity as a regime official. Sobalvarro, on the other hand, is accused by the US Treasury of having transferred Comintsa’s mining concessions to the company Zhong Fu, before it was sanctioned by the US, on May 15, 2024, and to Thomas Metal after Comintsa was sanctioned.
Tamariz He was sanctioned for having acted on behalf of Zhong Fu and provided his notarial services to facilitate and expedite the transfer of the mining concessions.
Five of the sanctioned companies for complicity
The US Treasury highlights that since 2020, the Nicaraguan dictatorship has restructured the gold sector, transforming it into a complex network of front companies and intermediaries designed to generate foreign currency, launder sanctioned assets and reinforce political control for its own benefit.
“Senior officials of the Murillo-Ortega dictatorship have benefited from the increase in Nicaraguan gold exports in recent years, due to the predominant role played by the Nicaraguan state mining company Empresa Nicaraguense de Minas (ENIMINAS), in channeling benefits to private sector partners and paying bribes to people close to the regime,” the US Treasury stressed.
The companies sanctioned by the United States for being considered complicit in the dictatorship are: Exportadora de Metales Sociedad Anónima (EMSA), Grupo Minero Xiloa SA (Minero), Thomas Metal SA (Thomas Metal), Nicaragua Xinxin Linze Mineria Group SA (Xinxin) and Brother Metal SA (Brother Metal).
Two other companies and operators sanctioned for confiscation
Other companies sanctioned by the US Treasury are: Zhong Fu and Saint Rita. Companies linked to the Murillo-Ortega regime that participated in the forced takeover of the gold processing plant of BHMB Mining Nicaragua SA (BHMB), a Nicaraguan company founded in 2019 with foreign investment from a US company.
According to public reports, a group of individuals broke into the BHMB premises, expelled security personnel and took physical control of the property. BHMB has apparently not received any compensation for the seizure of its property, and the Government of Nicaragua formally revoked its operating license recently.
Zhong Fu is a Nicaraguan gold company that operates primarily in the Nicaraguan gold trade. The sanctioned operator Feiwu Bianpresident and legal representative of Zhong Fu, was identified as one of the people involved in the occupation of the BHMB plant.
Likewise Aníbal Vladimir Matus Buitragolegal representative of Zhong Fu, was sanctioned when he was identified as one of the people involved in the occupation of the BHMB plant.
