; illegal and arbitrary detentions; practices of torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment; censorship and attacks on the press; and other forms of intimidation . (4) On May 29, 2018, Amnesty International released a report entitled Shoot to Kill: Nicaragua’s Strategy to Repress Protest , which documented the lethal use of weapons, specifically noting that gunshots fired by pro-government groups targeted specific individuals. (5) Transparency International's 2017 Corruption Perceptions Index ranks Nicaragua as tied for 151 of 180, the third worst ranking for a country in the Western Hemisphere, after Venezuela and Haiti. (6) The Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2017 of the Department of State notes, with respect to Nicaragua, that actions by the ruling Sandinista National Liberation Front party have resulted in the de facto concentration of power in a single party, with an authoritarian executive branch exercising significant control over the legislative, judicial, and electoral functions of the Government of Nicaragua. (7) The 2017 report of the Department of State also stated with respect to Nicaragua that the most significant human rights abuses included reports of arbitrary or unlawful killings; almost complete lack of judicial independence; unlawful interference with privacy; multiple obstacles to freedom of speech and the press, including government intimidation, and harassment of and threats against journalists and independent media; and partisan restrictions on freedom of peaceful assembly . (8) On July 5, 2018, pursuant to the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act (subtitle F of title XII of Public Law 114–328 ; 22 U.S.C. 2656 note), the United States Government sanctioned 3 individuals from Nicaragua who have been involved in serious human rights abuses or engaged in corruption, including— (A) Francisco Javier Diaz, Commissioner of the National Police of Nicaragua; (B) Jose Francisco Lopez, Vice President of ALBANISA