US sanctions Ortega’s allies after opponent’s death

The measure was announced by the American Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, in a publication on X. According to him, President Donald Trump’s government “will no longer ignore” the crimes and brutality of the Ortega and Murillo regime. Rubio also accused the Sandinista regime of being responsible for the death of opposition leader Brooklyn Rivera.

“The Murillo-Ortega dictatorship is the enemy of humanity. The Trump administration will not ignore its crimes and brutality, including the dictatorship’s unique role in the death of opposition political leader Brooklyn Rivera,” Rubio wrote.

According to the secretary, the State Department took measures to impose visa restrictions on more than 100 Nicaraguan officials who, according to Washington, continue to carry out Ortega and Murillo’s “evil” repression agenda.

Brooklyn Rivera, an opponent and indigenous leader linked to the YATAMA party, died on May 30, aged 73, after being imprisoned in Nicaragua for more than 970 days. The opposition says his arrest was illegal. The Ortega dictatorship only confirmed the opponent’s death the day after the fact. The regime also decided to keep his body in police custody and ordered him to be buried in Managua, the country’s capital.

In a statement released by the State Department, Rubio stated that the American government will not ignore the responsibility of the Ortega and Murillo dictatorship for the death of Brooklyn Rivera. On the 1st, US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau had already stated that Ortega’s dictatorship was responsible for Rivera’s death. At the time, the American Vice Chancellor said that the opponent died as a prisoner of the regime after “three years of inhumane treatment, unjust detention and forced disappearance”.

The measure increases the Trump administration’s pressure on the Sandinista regime, which has been increasing since the beginning of this year. The US has so far sanctioned more than 2,000 names linked to the Ortega regime in Nicaragua.