![US announces sanctions against Nicaragua VP, top aide](https://www.jurist.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2018/06/Nicaraguan-police.png)
The US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on Monday added the Vice President and First Lady of Nicaragua, Rosario Maria Murillo De Ortega, and top aide Nestor Moncada Lau to the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List.
The moves comes in response to an executive order issued by President Donald Trump authorizing sanctions against Nicaraguan nationals in response to a violent crackdown on protests that began in April.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the sanctions are in response to a deteriorating political situation in Nicaragua:
Vice President Murillo and her political operators have systematically sought to dismantle democratic institutions and loot the wealth of Nicaragua to consolidate their grip on power. This Administration is committed to holding the Ortega regime accountable for the violent protests and widespread corruption that have led to the deaths of hundreds of innocent Nicaraguans and destroyed their economy.
Adding the pair to the list means that the OFAC has prohibited the involvement of any US citizen in transactions that involve the property or interests of Murillo and Lau.