The Nicaraguan government on Monday closed 1,500 NGOs, most of them religious, according to an official resolution, in what is the largest closure of organizations organized by President Daniel Ortega since the protests against him in 2018.
According to a decision by the Ministry of the Interior, published in the official newspaper La Gaceta, the cancellation of the registration of these 1,500 NGOs is due to the fact that they “failed to report” their “financial statements” for “periods of between 01 and 35 years,” and their assets will be seized by the State.
Nicaragua has maintained its laws on civil associations since protests against the Ortega government in 2018, which left more than 300 people dead in three months, according to United Nations reports.
The unprecedented closure of NGOs announced on Monday brings to more than 5,100 the number of civil organizations closed by the government since 2018.
In addition to religious entities, the legal status of numerous charitable societies, Rotary and chess clubs, sports associations, small business associations, rural associations and associations for retirees was revoked. The Nicaraguan Red Cross was also revoked.
Indigenous organizations and those of former combatants from the struggle between the Sandinista government and the Contra rebels in the 1980s were also closed down.
– New law against NGOs –
Last Friday, the government issued a controversial law requiring NGOs to work only in “partnership alliances” with state entities.
The move was announced a day after Venezuela, an ally of Managua, passed a law on NGOs that human rights activists say will “deepen the persecution” of critics of President Nicolas Maduro amid allegations of fraud in his re-election.
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Nicaraguan opposition media outlets published in exile have criticized the new law governing the work of NGOs.
The government has imposed a “new operating model” on Nicaragua’s enemies, which takes away their autonomy over their projects and seeks to control the resources they receive, according to analysts.
The Ortega government, which faces sanctions from the United States and the European Union accusing it of authoritarian measures, has also closed Catholic radio stations and universities. Dozens of priests have been detained and forced into exile.
Ortega says the Church supported the 2018 anti-government protests, which they describe as a coup attempt sponsored by Washington.
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More than a dozen priests have been arrested since August, most of them expelled to the Vatican.
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) last week urged the Ortega government to cease “the widespread repression and religious persecution in the Central American country.”
The IACHR also denounced the arbitrary detention of at least 141 people, who are in unsanitary conditions, with little access to drinking water, adequate food and medical care.
