US imposes visa bans on 100 Nicaraguan officials for complicity with regime

The United States has announced visa restrictions targeting more than 100 Nicaraguan officials and their relatives, citing their complicity with the Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo regime. The U.S. State Department also accused electoral magistrate Lumberto Campbell Hooker of direct involvement in denying medical attention to political prisoner Brooklyn Rivera, who subsequently died in state custody.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated that those sanctioned are "complicit in the consolidation of the dictatorship in Nicaragua," a government accused by international organizations of severe human rights violations and the closure of democratic spaces. "The United States stands with the Nicaraguan people who, like Rivera, aspire to a free Nicaragua," Blinken said in a statement on June 8, 2026, announcing the new measures.

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The United States stands with the Nicaraguan people who, like Rivera, aspire to a free Nicaragua.

Brooklyn Rivera, a 73-year-old Miskito indigenous leader, died on May 30, 2026, after more than 970 days of illegal detention. The dictatorship confirmed his death a day later, keeping his body under police custody and ordering his burial in Managua. The U.S. stated that these new visa restrictions bring the total number of sanctioned Nicaraguan officials and their families to over 2,350.

The decision was made under Presidential Proclamation 10309, which suspends entry into the United States for immigrants and non-immigrants who are members of the Nicaraguan government or who formulate, implement, or benefit from policies that undermine democratic institutions. Blinken specifically pointed to Campbell Hooker's alleged role in denying Rivera medical care and preventing his family from burying him, warning that the U.S. "will not ignore the responsibility of the Murillo-Ortega dictatorship in the horrible death of political prisoner Brooklyn Rivera."

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The United States, advirtió, no ignorará la responsabilidad de la dictadura de Murillo-Ortega en la horrible muerte del preso político Brooklyn Rivera.