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Author: Admin | 2025-04-27
The regime’s mining revenues. Representatives Christopher H. Smith (R-NJ) and Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL) introduced the Restoring Sovereignty and Human Rights in Nicaragua Act of 2024 after a comparable bill passed the Senate Foreign Relations Committee with bipartisan support, which puts renewed emphasis on gold sanctions. The White House could also sanction additional mining companies.Such steps would deal a substantial financial blow to the Ortega-Murillo regime. There are trade-offs to consider: broader sanctions could damage Nicaragua’s economy and might increase outmigration. They risk friction with Canada, given Canadian companies’ presence in the Nicaraguan gold sector. And the Ortega-Murillo regime could respond by increasing gold exports to China and other geopolitical rivals. Still, given gold’s financial importance to the regime, a more aggressive approach is worth weighing.These are the building blocks for a strategy against criminal and authoritarian gold mining. Until the United States leads on the issue, illegal gold will continue destabilizing the Americas.This publication is part of the Diamonstein-Spielvogel Project on the Future of Democracy.
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