AP: Biden targets Nicaraguan gold in new move against Ortega

By JOSHUA GOODMAN and CHRISTOPHER SHERMAN

MIAMI (AP) — The Biden administration is ratcheting up pressure on President Daniel Ortega’s authoritarian rule in Nicaragua, banning Americans from doing business in the nation’s gold industry, threatening trade restrictions and stripping the U.S. visas of some 500 government insiders, according to U.S. officials. The actions are the latest and perhaps most aggressive attempt by the U.S. to hold the former Sandinista guerrilla leader accountable for his continued attacks on human rights and democracy in the Central American country as well his continued security cooperation with Russia.