On August 19th, geologist Deybi Josué García Gutiérrez announced his endorsement for constitutional reforms perpetuating Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo in power; that day he was gathered at the National Assembly alongside lawmakers, fellow mining executives, and Laureano Ortega, the dictators’ son and the regime’s chief investment advisor.
Until then, García had only appeared in the official gazette “La Gaceta” as the legal representative of Global Group, S.A., a corporation that experienced a sudden boom in state-granted mining concessions between June and September 2025. To the vast majority of Nicaraguans, he was, in fact, virtually unknown.
Seated in the front rows of the hall, the geologist was interviewed by state-run media outlets. He sticked strictly to the regime’s script for the event presided over by Ortega and Murillo. There stood a self-described «businessman» conveying a message of «reassurance,» while the dictators’ son reiterated that «stability» is essential to secure investment.
Yet the footprint of García’s «company» remains shrouded in mystery, down to basic details like its founding year and corporate address. These details do not even appear in the concessions published in “La Gaceta”, which states only that Global Group S.A. «is registered under unique ID number MG00-22-011032«.
The case of García and his company reflect a reality starkly different from state propaganda. Global Group S.A. highlights a suspicious surge within a regime-controlled mining sector, where the formula for success typically relies on political favor coupled with opaque corporate structures governing a multi-million-dollar industry.
Two Unfamiliar Corporate Entities in the Mining Sector
Between 2024 and 2026, a network of entities under the direct control of the Ortega-Murillo family —which extorted artisanal miners and formal enterprises alike— was exposed, revealing the dictatorial family’s direct involvement in the gold trade. However, as these firms faced foreign sanctions, other actors—largely unknown to the Nicaraguan public— began emerging in the mining sector.
LA PRENSA consulted sources in the mining sector, spoke with industry experts to analyze and understand of the market dynamics under Ortega-Murillo influence, reviewed an export trade database provided by ImportGenius —a platform tracking global shipping transactions— and examined the regime’s power networks. Here is what we uncovered, what we know so far.
An investigative reporting team from LA PRENSA tracked the specific cases of Global Group S.A. and Inversiones Ecológicas, S.A. (INECOSA). These Nicaraguan companies have expanded within the sector starting in 2023, coinciding with the Ortega-Murillo regime tightening controls over artisanal miners through the Ministry of Energy and Mines (MEM). For the past two years, MEM directives have required processing plants to buy ore from artisanal miners only with written authorization from the ministry. According to several industry sources, this mandate has driven many independent gold buyers out of business.
Production from formalized artisanal miners accounts for 20 to 30 percent of Nicaragua’s total gold exports, representing between $394 million and $591.3 million based on 2025 export figures. According to the Central Bank of Nicaragua (BCN), the country exported $1.971 billion in gold last year, capitalizing on high international troy-ounce prices, which reached $3,319 per ounce.
According to this investigation, INECOSA exported $112.5 million worth of Nicaraguan gold to the United States between July 4, 2023, and July 28, 2026. The information is based on shipping records from ImportGenius consulted by LA PRENSA.
Furthermore, a source close to the regime indicated that Global Group and the exporter INECOSA «do business with the exact same company in the U.S.«
The entity identified by the source is Blue Stone Gold, a firm headquartered in Miami. According to corporate filings with the Florida Division of Corporations, the owners are Colombian nationals Jaime Aparicio Cardona and John Eduard Aparicio Cardona.
For weeks, our investigative team tracked these companies’ operations and attempted to contact their representatives. Blue Stone President Jaime Aparicio Cardona ignored inquiries from this newspaper´s investigative team, despite multiple requests for comment.
How Global Group Expanded Through Concessions
Global Group’s growth fits into a broader overhaul of the gold sector orchestrated by the Ortega-Murillo regime beginning in 2022. The state has awarded 8.5 percent of the national territory in concessions to inexperienced Chinese companies, while hitting established major mining firms with multi-million-dollar tax audits, assessments and penalties.
According to Ministry of Energy and Mines records from August 2024, Global Group initially applied for the 18.28-hectare «Matagalpa Mining» lot on September 20, 2020. There is no record of state action on that request. Five years later, however, the company experienced exponential growth: starting in June 2025, the regime granted the firm 162,996.23 hectares in mining concessions.
Of that land, Global Group transferred just over 76,560 hectares in June 2026 to Plantel Central Nicaragua S.A., retaining 86,436.23 hectares across five of the country´s departments. In terms of size, this territory is equivalent to nearly a quarter of the entire department of Managua. Official resolutions identify geologist Deybi Josué García and Mario José Reyes Morales —a 41-year-old business administrator operating with broad power of attorney— as the visible faces of the enterprise.
Ownership Changes at INECOSA
Inversiones Ecológicas, S.A. (INECOSA) was originally incorporated on January 18, 2006, a year before Daniel Ortega returned to power. It was incorporated before notary public Cristian Carolina Osorio Fuentes by Alvin Leonard Guthrie Rivers, Robert Joseph Johansing, Peter Rollinson, and Daniel Alberto Maus. According to records in “La Gaceta”, Guthrie —a former National Opposition Union (UNO) congressman in the 1990s and airline union leader—r epresented INECOSA until April 2016.
«INECOSA is very old. It used to belong to Mr. Alvin Guthrie. I believe it was taken away from him and changed hands,» said a mining sector source, explaining that concession holders often seek financiers who «inject capital for exploration studies in exchange for equity.«
INECOSA and Blue Stone Gold Share Common Owners
According to court filings under case number 001629-ORM4-2026-CO located in the closed files archive of Managua’s Second Oral Civil District Court, the Aparicio family controls INECOSA. Jaime Aparicio also serves as president, but at this Nicaraguan company, he works alongside his brother Darwin Jairo, who serves as alternate manager.
INECOSA lists two corporate addresses: one in Managua “Las Colinas” residential neighborhood (listed on its website at Calle Los Cocos, House #51, across from Plaza Isabella). The second one is at House #198 in “Colonial Los Robles” residencial neighborhood. In neither address was LA PRENSA able to locate the Aparicios, as they did not respond to messages.
Equipment Imported from Italy in 2024
INECOSA’s website states that the company operates in sustainable gold and silver mining, utilizing a processing plant equipped with machinery imported from Italy in 2024. ImportGenius records reviewed by LA PRENSA, the equipment arrived on February 3 of that year.
In the ImportGenius document, the equipment is described as «a chemical refining plant with electrical acid utilization for refining.» This machinery would allow the company to process raw ore-bearing material purchased from artisanal miners before exporting refined gold; however, INECOSA had already begun exporting significant volumes of gold at least a year prior.
INECOSA’s primary concession is located in San Juan de Limay, in the northern Nicaragua department of Estelí. In June 2014, the state granted the firm the «Achuapa» mining concession, covering 3,507.44 hectares. The information can be found under Ministerial Accord No. 060-DM-533-2014.
Nine years after receiving the concession, INECOSA‘s gold exports to the United States have grown steadily, as reflected in its foreign sales figures between 2023 and 2026.
Caption: Beginning in the first week of September, LA PRENSA sent emails to INECOSA representatives at [email protected] and [email protected]. The first address, listed on its public website, bounced; the second, found in state exporter registries, went through but received no response.
Blue Stone Gold’s «Virtual Office» in the U.S.
Florida Division of Corporations records confirm that Blue Stone Gold is the buyer of INECOSA‘s Nicaraguan gold.
In addition to attempting phone contact with Jaime Aparicio, LA PRENSA visited Blue Stone’s primary business address at 333 SE 2nd Ave, Suite 2000, Miami, FL 33130. However, on-site personnel confirmed the location is a «virtual office», a setup common among small entities that serves primarily as a mailing address. The office is located within the Wells Fargo Center, a 47-story skyscraper in the city’s financial district.
As noted above, Jaime Aparicio, president of both Blue Stone Gold and INECOSA, did not respond to inquiries.
The Regime’s Gold Empire Under Sanctions Pressure
In 2022, U.S. authorities exposed the Ortega family’s financial stakes in the gold sector when the Treasury Department sanctioned the state-owned Nicaraguan Mining Company (ENIMINAS).
Two years later, U.S. sanctions targeted Laureano Ortega directly, blacklisting Capital Mining and Compañía Minera Internacional, S.A. (COMINTSA) —the former tied to Laureano Ortega and the latter to Energy Minister Salvador Mansell—.
In 2026, investigations by LA PRENSA revealed the operations of Grupo Minero Xiloá (GRUMIXSA), whose Managua offices were co-located with state-owned ENIMINAS and operated an authorized gold processing facility in Villanueva, Chinandega.
Operating in the shadows of power, GRUMIXSA became the nexus of an extortion scheme targeting both artisanal miners and formal operating companies.
U.S. officials stated that the regime’s scheme aimed to fund domestic repression through gold revenues, with members of the ruling family playing essential roles in maintaining control. The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) also sanctioned two export firms: Xinxin Linze Minería Group and Exportadora de Metales S.A.
«Since 2020 (the regime) has restructured the mining sector into a complex network of front companies and intermediaries designed to generate foreign currency, launder sanctioned assets, and consolidate political control for its own benefit. This corrupt, state-controlled network is managed by two U.S.-sanctioned individuals: Laureano Ortega Murillo and Salvador Mansell Castrillo, Nicaragua’s Minister of Energy and Mines, who was sanctioned by OFAC on November 15, 2021,» U.S. officials noted.
According to Amaru Ruiz, director of “Fundación del Río”, who tracks mining concessions in Nicaragua, the regime continues to rely on intermediary companies to handle material collection, processing, and export following U.S. sanctions.
«When the intermediaries are sanctioned, they (the dictatorship) simply set up a new “legal” entity,» the environmental advocate noted.
LA PRENSA received data analysis support from the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) for portions of this investigation. Tips and information can be submitted to [email protected].
Disclaimer: This article was translated with the assistance of artificial intelligence and reviewed and edited by a human editor.
