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Engineer Francisco “Chico” López Centeno, former treasurer of the FSLN and former vice president of Albanisa, was arrested by the National Police on Thursday, May 14, 2026, and transferred that same day to the “La Modelo” prison in Tipitapa, Managua. Both actions were ordered by “co-president” Rosario Murillo, according to sources linked to the FSLN Secretariat in “El Carmen” and the National Penitentiary System.
López was arrested during a police operation at his company, “Tecnología y Sistemas S.A. (Tecnosa),” located near the American School in Managua, according to workers connected to Tecnosa.
Neither the Police nor the Prosecutor’s Office have officially filed charges against the former FSLN treasurer, but sources linked to “El Carmen” — where “co-presidents” Daniel Ortega and Murillo reside and work — say that “Rosario Murillo’s decision is to prosecute and convict” López on serious charges such as money laundering and illicit enrichment, the same accusations brought against other former officials of the dictatorship and Ortega exiles.
“The detention of Francisco Lopez, a loyal militant who has served Ortega and Murillo since the 1990s, has caused fear and uncertainty within Sandinista ranks. People are only asking who will be next,” said a source linked to the FSLN.
The Fall of “Chico” Lopez
Lopez was removed in February 2026 from all his responsibilities as the main operator of the Ortega-Murillo family’s private businesses operating under state protection. His “functions” were transferred to the president of the Central Bank of Nicaragua, Ovidio Reyes, sources linked to the FSLN Secretariat told CONFIDENCIAL.
The former official had withdrawn from political life and was dedicated exclusively to his private businesses at Tecnosa and other companies built under the protection of the regime.
Over the last two decades, Lopez — under the close supervision of Murillo and her son Rafael Ortega Murillo — was the principal operator in the diversion of funds from Venezuelan state cooperation, estimated at more than 4.7 billion dollars between 2007 and 2018. With part of that money, the regime created Alba de Nicaragua, S.A. (ALBANISA), to function as a conglomerate of binational companies. Millions more were injected into the Rural National Savings Cooperative R.L. (Caruna).
When the Venezuelan counterpart audited the use of those resources, the creation of Banco Corporativo (BANCORP) was ordered, with the intention of exercising greater control over the use of the money. After the voluntary closure of Bancorp, and as a way to channel a multibillion-dollar fortune that could no longer be operated through the national banking system, the Savings and Credit Cooperative (CREDICOOP) was created.
Part of those funds were also used to make major investments that enabled control of the electricity distribution companies Disnorte and Dissur. The Ortega-Murillo family also invested in other energy-generation companies, commerce, media outlets, and real estate.
Among the various positions Lopez held in recent years were vice president of ALBANISA, president of the Nicaraguan Petroleum Company (PETRONIC), and president of the Nicaraguan Mining Company (ENIMINAS). He was forced to resign from both positions in July 2018 after being sanctioned by the United States under the Global Magnitsky Act Sanctions.
Together with Other Former Officials in “La Modelo”
Other former dictatorship officials are being held in “La Modelo,” including retired Major General Ramon Calderon Vindell, former director of Petronic, Eniminas, Albanisa, and Alba Generacion. The former military officer has been imprisoned since March 2026 and is accused of carrying out irregular contracts with oil companies.
Calderon was summoned for questioning on Tuesday, March 24, to District III of the National Police, but since “Thursday the 26th (of March) he never returned home to sleep,” sources from “El Carmen” said.
According to the sources, the arrest of the retired major general is related to investigations led by Ovidio Reyes and a “commission” he heads for the management of the Ortega-Murillo family’s private businesses.
Also being held in “La Modelo” prison is the eldest son of the former FSLN treasurer, Bismarck López, who was involved in the exploitation of private mining concessions — business interests that reportedly came into conflict with those of Laureano Ortega Murillo, the son of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo.
Bismarck López was arrested on October 17, 2025. He was initially held in the cells of the Judicial Assistance Directorate (DAJ), known as “El Chipote,” before later being transferred to “La Modelo.”
