Ortega and Murillo appoint Molina Hurtado as co-director general of Customs

The Presidency of the Republic appointed María Eugenia Molina Hurtado as Co-Director General of the General Directorate of Customs Services (DGA), through Presidential Agreement No. 148-2026, published in La Gaceta, Official Gazette No. 201 on Tuesday, November 3, 2026. The agreement was signed by Co-President Daniel Ortega Saavedra and Co-President Rosario Murillo Zambrana, dated October 30, 2026, and takes effect as of that same date.

The appointment became known four days after the Official Gazette disseminated Law No. 1286, Law of Reforms to Law No. 339, Law Creating the General Directorate of Customs Services and Reform to the Law Creating the General Directorate of Revenue (DGI), published in La Gaceta No. 200 on Friday, October 30, 2026, page 10766. That regulation reformed articles 9, 12, 13, and the first paragraph of article 15 of Law No. 339, which regulates the management of both institutions.

A two-article agreement

The text published in the Government House section is limited to two provisions and contains no recitals:

• Article 1: appoints Comrade María Eugenia Molina Hurtado to the position of Co-Director General of the General Directorate of Customs Services (DGA).
• Article 2: establishes that the agreement takes effect as of its date and orders its publication in La Gaceta, Official Gazette.
• Closing: “Given in the City of Managua, Government House, Republic of Nicaragua, on the thirtieth day of October of the year two thousand twenty-six”, with the signatures of Daniel Ortega Saavedra and Rosario Murillo Zambrana.

The summary of the issue, consisting of 120 pages and a print run of 585 copies, records Presidential Agreement No. 148-2026 on page 10886 as the only document from the Government House in that edition.

The legal framework of the new co-direction

The designation is supported by the reform that entered into force upon its publication on October 30. The reformed article 9 provides that the DGI and the DGA “shall each be led by Co-Directors General appointed by the Presidency of the Republic,” and refers the qualifications and requirements to article 15 of Law No. 290, Law of Organization, Competence, and Procedures of the Executive Power, in its consolidated text published in La Gaceta, Official Gazette No. 170 on September 21, 2023.

The amended Article 12 integrates the Superior Directorate of both entities with its co-directors; Article 13 assigns them the administration and legal representation of the institution “with the general and special powers that may be required in each case,” and the duty to submit reports on their Strategic and Operational Plan in accordance with the requirements of the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit. The final provision of Law No. 1286 mandates that all mentions of the “Director General” in the legal framework, including the Tax Code and customs legislation, shall henceforth be read as “the Co-Directors General.”

Effect on importers, exporters, and carriers

The DGA is the entity that applies customs regulations and administers abandoned goods. In Law No. 1286, it is defined, along with the DGI, as one of the “decentralized entities” whose superior direction is now collegiate, such that decisions regarding administration and legal representation now depend on the joint action of the co-directors.

The operational dimension of the entity was recorded in a prior notice: the General Directorate of Customs Services called for Public Auction No. 04-2026 of abandoned goods, to be held on Thursday, October 15, 2026, at the Central Level of the DGA, located at kilometer 4.5 of the northern highway, based on Article 120 of the Central American Uniform Customs Code (CAUCA IV), as stated in La Gaceta No. 182 of October 6, 2026.

The change in command is important to foreign trade operators—importers, exporters, carriers, and customs agents—because the DGA concentrates the application of customs legislation and the administrative relationship with service users. With the reform in effect since October 30, any procedure, resolution, or institutional criterion now requires the co-direction structure headed by María Eugenia Molina Hurtado, appointed in the same month that the National Assembly approved the modification of Law No. 339.

Source: La Gaceta, Official Gazette No. 201, Tuesday, November 3, 2026, Government House, p. 10886 (official reference: Presidential Agreement No. 148-2026).