The U.S. on Thursday blacklisted five senior Nicaraguan officials for their alleged role in helping President Daniel Ortega and his wife and co-president, Rosario Murillo, to consolidate authoritarian power through financial controls, labor policy, telecommunications surveillance, and military intelligence operations.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said the designations target officials who lead agencies that enable the government’s repression of political opponents and civil society. In a statement, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the United States would continue to “hold the dictatorship to account” and support Nicaraguans’ “aspirations for freedom and justice.”

Those sanctioned include the director and deputy director of Nicaragua’s Financial Analysis Unit, the minister of labor, the deputy director general of the telecommunications regulator, TELCOR, and the head of the Nicaraguan army’s Directorate of Military Intelligence and Counterintelligence.

The officials designated span agencies Washington portrays as central to the Nicaraguan government’s internal control apparatus.

In the financial sector, the Treasury Department designated retired Maj. Gen. Denis Membreno Rivas and former police chief commissioner Aldo Martin Saenz Ulloa, who have served as director and deputy director of the Financial Analysis Unit since 2012. Treasury accused the Nicaraguan government of “weaponizing” anti-money laundering and counterterrorism financing laws to target political opponents, and said the unit has monitored foreign funding flows to block support for opposition groups and civil society organizations. 

Treasury also alleged that the unit has liquidated assets of dissidents and nongovernmental organizations without a legal basis. The unit’s leadership structure undermines its autonomy because it is chaired by active-duty officers loyal to Ortega, enabling the government to use financial oversight tools to persecute critics, according to OFAC. 

In telecommunications, OFAC blacklisted Celia Margarita Reyes Ochoa, deputy director general of TELCOR since 2023. U.S. officials described TELCOR as a key component of Nicaragua’s surveillance framework. Treasury pointed to a 2024 telecommunications law that it said expanded TELCOR’s authority to collect private data, intercept communications, and geolocate individuals. 

The department had previously imposed sanctions against TELCOR’s director general, Nahima Janett Diaz Flores, whom U.S. officials accused of running “troll farms” to harass, defame, and otherwise attack the regime’s political opponents. 

In the military, Treasury targeted Maj. Gen. Leonel Jose Gutierrez Lopez, who had headed military intelligence for more than a decade. Treasury said the Directorate of Military Intelligence and Counterintelligence oversees internal and external surveillance and has played a central role in monitoring protesters, journalists, human rights defenders, and former military officers deemed disloyal. 

OFAC also designated Johana Vanessa Flores Jimenez, who has served as the country’s minister of labor since August 2025. Treasury cited a report by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative alleging Nicaragua’s labor policies have exploited workers, created unfair competitive conditions, and confiscated property belonging to religious institutions and U.S. persons or businesses. 

Read more from the U.S. Treasury Department here