OFAC Nicaragua sanctions

The OFAC Nicaragua sanctions program is administered by the U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and targets individuals and entities deemed responsible for human rights abuses, corruption, or the undermining of democratic processes in Nicaragua. The program is rooted in several overlapping authorities:

• Executive Order 13851 (November 27, 2018), issued by President Trump, declared a national emergency over the situation in Nicaragua following the violent crackdown on 2018 protests and authorized blocking sanctions on persons engaged in serious human rights abuse or actions undermining democratic institutions.
• The Nicaragua Human Rights and Anticorruption Act of 2018 (NHRAA), known as the NICA Act, required the U.S. to oppose international financial institution loans to Nicaragua absent reforms.
• The RENACER Act (Reinforcing Nicaragua's Adherence to Conditions for Electoral Reform Act), signed November 10, 2021, expanded sanctions authorities and required closer review of Nicaragua's participation in CAFTA-DR following the disputed November 2021 elections.
• Executive Order 14088 (October 24, 2022) broadened the scope to authorize sectoral sanctions, including against the gold mining sector.

Designated parties are placed on the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (SDN) List. U.S. persons are generally prohibited from transactions with them, and their U.S.-jurisdiction assets are frozen. Designees have included senior officials of the Ortega-Murillo government, the Nicaraguan National Police, members of the Supreme Electoral Council, prosecutors, and entities tied to the ruling family's business interests.

The program operates in coordination with parallel measures by Canada, the United Kingdom, and the European Union, the latter having adopted its own Nicaragua-specific restrictive measures framework in 2019 (Council Decision (CFSP) 2019/1720). Together these regimes form a multilateral pressure architecture aimed at the Ortega-Murillo administration, though Nicaragua remains a member of the OAS dialogue track and CAFTA-DR trade relationships persist.