Richard Grenell, a close ally of U.S. President Donald Trump, had warned since mid-March that sanctions should be imposed on Nicaragua’s mining sector following the arbitrary seizure of a gold processing plant owned by U.S.-based BHMB Mining. The takeover was carried out in 2025 by the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo.
Grenell not only criticized the expropriation of the facility but also denounced its transfer to Chinese entities, calling the move “unacceptable.” According to reporting by La Prensa, the dictatorship handed over the assets to little-known Chinese companies Zhong Fu Development and Santa Rita Mining.
Yesterday, a month after Grenell’s first post on the matter, the U.S. Department of the Treasury sanctioned the companies, their representatives and Daniel Edmundo and Maurice Ortega Murillo, two of Ortega and Murillo’s nine children.
“The United States will not allow the unlawful confiscation of American assets and will continue targeting the revenue streams that sustain the corrupt Murillo-Ortega regime,” said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
What did Richard Grenell post on X?
“Seizing a mine from an American businessman and giving it to the Chinese is unacceptable. This must be reversed or face sanctions across Nicaragua’s entire gold industry,” Grenell wrote on March 17 on his X account, tagging the U.S. Secretaries of State, Treasury, and Commerce. The regime ignored the warning.
On March 30, Grenell reiterated his call on X: “Let’s do it now! The Nicaraguan government took a gold processing plant from a U.S. company and handed it to the Chinese. No consequences! Congress must act.”
Read also: Washington Targets Nicaragua Ruling Family’s Gold Business, Sanctions Ortega Sons
Chinese Mining Firms Sanctioned One Month Later
The United States Department of the Treasury imposed sanctions on Zhong Fu Development and Santa Rita Mining this Thursday, April 16—one month after Grenell’s initial post. It also targeted their representatives: Chinese national Feiwu Bian, president of the company, and attorney Vladimir Matus Buitrago.
Sanctions Reach Ortega-Murillo Inner Circle
The measures also extend to two sons of the ruling couple: Maurice Ortega Murillo, who oversees the regime’s sports apparatus, and Daniel Edmundo Ortega Murillo, involved in propaganda operations.
Additionally, U.S. authorities targeted the corporate network enabling the family to control the gold trade, particularly Grupo Minero Xiloá, which operated a processing plant in the community of Villanueva, in Chinandega.
Investigations by La Prensa indicate that Murillo ordered the shutdown of Grumixsa in an apparent attempt to conceal evidence of the family’s business operations. The Treasury Department stated that the revenues generated were likely being used to finance repressive activities, according to its official release.
