Nicaragua announces a new massive closure of NGOs and raises the number to 3,372 since 2018

First modification: 03/29/2023 – 01:47

This Tuesday, March 28, the Nicaraguan Ministry of the Interior reported on the cancellation of the legal personality of 24 ornon-governmental organizations in the country, including eight that requested their voluntary dissolution.

The Ministry added that the unilateral closure of 15 NGOs occurred after carrying out an analysis and finding that “they were abandoned”, in addition to “failing to comply with their obligations under the laws that regulate them for between three and 14 years” or for “failing to comply with the laws nationals”, as happened with the American ‘Forward Edge International’.

Among those that drew the most attention is the ‘Asociación María Auxiliadora Pro-Mujeres con Cáncer’, which provided care to low-income women suffering from cervical and breast cancer.

The Ministry argued that the charity did not report its financial statements for two years and that the board of directors had expired since 2021.

NGOs are increasingly reduced in Nicaragua

With this new announcement, In Nicaragua, at least 3,372 NGOs have been closed, almost half of the 7,227 that were registered in April 2018This was recently announced from Costa Rica by the ‘ONG File’, a group of Nicaraguan organizations in exile.

The authorities assured that they will proceed to confiscate the movable and immovable property of the NGOs and that will be transferred to the name of the Nicaraguan State through the Attorney General’s Office, excepting from this measure those organizations that decided to dissolve voluntarily.

NGOs are seen as a threat to the stability of Nicolás Ortega’s cabinet, while issues such as freedom of the press, education, religion, culture, among others, have been strongly affected by government decisions.

For his part, the Sandinista deputy, Filiberto Rodríguez, accused the NGOs of have plans to try to remove President Ortega from power using the economic resources they receive through donations.

The version of some official deputies is another. They assure that the closure of these NGOs is part of a “regulation process”, since, according to them, many of these were not operating and regulation was needed.

The human rights situation in Nicaragua

In April 2018, thousands of Nicaraguans took to the streets across the country to protest controversial social security reforms and later called for the resignation of President Ortega, who responded violently against the protesters.

According to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), during these events at least 355 people died, 2,000 were injured and more than 100,000 in exile, while some Nicaraguan organizations raise the death toll to 684.

The situation became more tense in 2021, when Ortega was re-elected amid controversial elections for his fifth term and the fourth consecutive one, in which his wife, Rosario Murillo, was elected for a second term as vice president of the nation.

Ortega sent his seven main political rivals and many other opponents, student leaders, businessmen and journalists to prison. According to the opposition, the country could exceed 200 political prisoners.

Thus, the Central American country is submerged in a difficult political and social crisis, which leads to the breaking of diplomatic relations with different countries, as it recently did with the Vatican.

Meanwhile, thousands of Nicaraguans have preferred to live in exile and many others have embarked on dangerous migrant caravans with the aim of fleeing their country and seeking refuge abroad.

With EFE and local media