Washington, Mar 22 (UNI) The United States has imposed sanctions on Nicaragua's Attorney General Wendy Carolina Morales Urbina, the US Treasury Department Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said in a statement on Thursday.
“Today, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned Wendy Carolina Morales Urbina, Nicaragua’s Attorney General, for being complicit in the Ortega-Murillo regime’s oppression,” the statement said.
The US authorities stressed that Morales Urbina is responsible for confiscating real property formerly belonging to independent media outlets, international organizations, and political prisoners.
“Morales Urbina has also seized property from thousands of non-governmental organizations under law explicitly to suppress freedom of association. Morales Urbina carried out the dispossession of all properties of the 222 political prisoners who were banished from Nicaragua,” the statement added.
The US Treasury pointed out Nicaragua’s Attorney General became a key figure who was formulating the strategy to designate Nicaraguan opposition members as terrorists. She used an existing anti-terrorism law to block their financial resources, according to the statement.
“The Attorney General of Nicaragua, in concert with the Ortega-Murillo regime [Nicaragua’s President Daniel Ortega and Vice President Rosario Murillo], has exploited her office to facilitate a coordinated campaign to suppress dissent by seizing property from government political opponents without a legal basis,” Under Secretary of the Treasury Brian Nelson said.
The US reminded that anti-government protests erupted in Nicaragua in 2018. However, the authorities suppressed demonstrations and incarcerated political activists, the statement added.
UNI/SPUTNIK GNK