WASHINGTON — The United States imposed travel restrictions on over 100 Nicaraguan government officials and their relatives Monday, escalating pressure on the Central American nation’s leadership over human rights violations.
The new penalties were announced by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who cited the recent death of imprisoned activist Brooklyn Rivera as a key factor in the decision. Rivera had been a vocal critic of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and his wife and co-president Rosario Murillo before his death last month while in custody.
“The United States stands with the Nicaraguan people who, like Rivera, aspire to see a free Nicaragua,” Rubio stated.
Nicaraguan government representatives have not yet provided a response to the sanctions announcement.
These latest restrictions bring the total number of Nicaraguan officials and family members barred from U.S. entry to more than 2,350. Officials did not disclose the names of those targeted in this most recent action.
The U.S. Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs posted on X expressing concern about six of Rivera’s relatives and associates who have disappeared, condemning their vanishing.
Earlier this year in April, the current administration imposed penalties on two sons of Nicaragua’s co-ruling couple.
Rivera was a prominent Indigenous rights advocate who dedicated years to championing his community’s causes before authorities detained him in September 2023. His imprisonment occurred amid an extended government campaign against civil society groups and opposition voices that started after widespread demonstrations in 2018, which officials violently suppressed.
According to Nicaragua’s government, Rivera’s death resulted from a bacterial infection that developed after his health deteriorated following a COVID-19 diagnosis, causing both physical and neurological decline.
International human rights advocates and organizations condemned Rivera’s death, and U.S. officials had demanded his freedom after the government released images showing him hospitalized in serious condition.
Nicaragua’s administration has detained political opponents, religious figures, journalists and others before forcing them into exile, removing citizenship and seizing property from hundreds of individuals. The government has closed over 5,000 organizations since 2018, mostly religious groups, while compelling thousands of citizens to leave the country.
