The National Assembly, controlled by the deputies of the Ortega regime and their political allies Collaborators, continued with its hunt for civil organizations and associations, canceling nine entities of this type on Tuesday.
The entities that were canceled with the vote of the Ortega deputies and their allies were: Association of Graduates of INCAE Nicaragua, Association of Consultants for the Development of Small and Medium Enterprises (Acodep), Association of Economists of Nicaragua, Chamber of Small and Medium Tourism Industry (Cantur), Las Colinas Country Club, Council of Private Universities, Véritas Foundation, Hispano-American Foundation and Tourism Foundation.
The vote to approve this cancellation was 84 votes in favor, zero against, three abstentions and four deputies present, who, although they do not vote in any way, their presence is added to the votes in favor of the parliamentary resolutions.
The Council of Private Universities (Cosup) is chaired by José Adán Bermúdez, who is a well-known opponent of the regime and is the third vice president of the Citizens for Freedom party, an opposition political force to which the regime canceled its legal status to get her out of the electoral game, with the complicity of the Constitutionalist Liberal Party (PLC).
In addition, the Chamber of the Small and Medium Tourism Industry (Cantur) and the Association of Consultants for the Development of Small and Medium Enterprises (Acodep) were two civil entities linked to the Sandinista businessman Leonardo Torres, on which the regime unleashed a strong repression this week.
With the closure of these nine organizations, the Ortega regime has outlawed 57 civil entities in 2021, 13 of which have been closed so far this week. From 2018 to date, the regime has ordered the closure of 67 organizations.
This Monday, the National Assembly also voted in favor of closing the Hispano-American University (Uhispam) and the Nicaraguan Council of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (Conimipyme), both organizations chaired by Torres.
Also that same day, the deputies approved the closure of the International Foundation for the Global Economic Challenge (Fideg), chaired by economist Alejandro Martínez Cuenca, and specialized in conducting economic studies on poverty.
They use the same arguments
In a report, the Ministry of the Interior argued that in the case of Uhispam -registered as an NGO-, and Conimipyme, their boards of directors are headless and have not reported their financial statements for 2020 with their detailed breakdowns.
They also point out that they do not present their agreements with donors and NGOs about their projects and activities that clearly define their source of financing, project portfolio, their social impact and if they are in accordance with the aims and objectives of the entities.
In the case of the nine entities that were outlawed this Tuesday, the regime used these same arguments to justify its closure. According to the official report of the Interior, all these NGOs violated the general Law on non-profit legal entities, and the Law against money laundering, terrorist financing, and financing of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
