On Thursday, the State and Treasury Departments delivered a one-two punch to some of our adversaries in the Western Hemisphere, proving that the Donald Trump administration is still taking care of our nation's backyard — even if the administration is a bit preoccupied in the Middle East at the moment — and will use every tool at its disposal to protect our national interests, strengthen our security, and ensure the stability of the entire region.
Since Trump took office, Secretary of State Marco Rubio has revoked and restricted tens of thousands of visas, but today the State Department announced that in a "significant expansion of an existing visa restriction policy" it is targeting "those working on behalf of U.S. adversaries to undermine our national interests in our hemisphere including regional security and democratic sovereignty." In other words, the United States is no longer their safe haven or playground.
Here's more:
This expanded policy enables us to restrict U.S. visas for nationals of countries in our region who, while within Western Hemisphere countries and while intentionally acting on behalf of adversarial countries, their agents, or enterprises, knowingly direct, authorize, fund, or provide significant support to, or carry out activities that are adversarial to and undermine America’s interests in our hemisphere. These individuals – and their immediate family members – will be generally ineligible for entry into the United States.
Activities include but are not limited to: enabling adversarial powers to acquire or control key assets and strategic resources in our hemisphere; destabilizing regional security efforts; undermining American economic interests; and conducting influence operations designed to undermine the sovereignty and stability of nations in our region.
The State Department wasn't anymore specific than that, though I think we can all make a few assumptions, but it did mention that to "demonstrate our commitment to this expanded policy, we have taken steps to impose visa restrictions on 26 individuals across our hemisphere who have engaged in these activities."
While Rubio was working on that, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was making some moves of his own against the Daniel Ortega-Rosario Murillo dictatorship in Nicaragua. The Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced that it "sanctioned five individuals and seven companies that operate in Nicaragua’s gold sector, as well as Nicaraguan entities and individuals involved in the forceful seizure of U.S.-owned property in Nicaragua."
Today, Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned five individuals and seven companies that operate in Nicaragua’s gold sector, as well as Nicaraguan entities and individuals involved in the forceful seizure of U.S.-owned property in Nicaragua. These individuals and…
— Treasury Department (@USTreasury) April 16, 2026
Those sanctions include two of Ortega and Murillo's sons — Maurice Facundo Ortega Murillo, who serves as the Nicaraguan presidential delegate for sports, and Daniel Edmundo Ortega Murillo, the head of the Communication and Citizenship Council of Nicaragua — as well as Santiago Hernan Bermudez Tapia, the vice minister of energy and mines. As I mentioned last month, Ortega is old and in poor health, and Murrilo is not far behind, but they've done what they can to ensure their dynasty survives their deaths. They have several children, most of whom are involved in their "government," and one of the sons is supposedly heir to the throne.
Related: The Forgotten Dictatorship: Ortega-Murillo's War on Faith
"The Murillo-Ortega dictatorship has sought to fill its own coffers through the use of these gold companies and co-conspirators by confiscating American investments in Nicaragua and using it to generate funds to maintain its political power," Bessent said. "The United States will not allow the illicit confiscation of American-owned assets and will continue to target revenue streams that empower the corrupt Murillo-Ortega regime."
In 2020, the Nicaraguan dictatorship restructured its gold industry into a network of "front companies and intermediaries designed to generate foreign currency, launder sanctioned assets, and reinforce political control for their own benefit."
A lot of this stems from a recent incident in which the regime decided to occupy a plant owned by BHMB Mining Nicaragua S.A. (BHMB) — a Nicaraguan company founded in 2019 with heavy U.S. and British investment. According to the Treasury, the regime "expelled security personnel, and assumed physical control of the property. BHMB has reportedly not received any compensation for the seizure of its property, and the Government of Nicaragua has only recently formally rescinded BHMB’s license to operate." The plant was reportedly handed over to the Chinese mining company, Zhong Fu Development S.A.
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