Press Releases: Public Designation, Due to Significant Corruption, of Nicaragua’s Roberto Jose Rivas Reyes

Due to his involvement in significant corruption, the Department is publicly designating the President of Nicaragua’s Supreme Electoral Council, Roberto Jose Rivas Reyes, under the terms of Section 7031(c) of the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act of 2018. Rivas was designated in December 2017 under Executive Order 13818 implementing the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act for involvement in significant corruption and for perpetuating electoral fraud that undermined Nicaragua’s electoral institutions. Section 7031(c) provides that, in cases where the Secretary of State has credible information that foreign officials have been involved in significant corruption or a gross violation of human rights, those individuals and their immediate family members are ineligible for entry into the United States.

The law also requires the Secretary of State to publicly or privately designate such officials and their immediate family members. In addition to the designation of Mr. Rivas, the Secretary is also publicly designating Mr. Rivas’ spouse, Ileana Patricia Lacayo Delgado de Rivas.