The regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo canceled this Wednesday, January 8, the legal personality of 15 associations that functioned as non-profit organizations, including evangelicals and Catholics, bringing the total number of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) to more than 3,600. canceled since December 2018.
In the closure of the organizations, 11 are justified for non-compliance with the laws that regulate them and the other four under the request for voluntary dissolution of said organizations.
Among the 15 canceled NGOs, Save The Children International stands out, an organization that worked for the rights of children and adolescents and that had operated in Nicaragua since 2011; However, according to the Gazette, the closure is due to the completion of the portfolio in the country and was voluntary.
The regime had already unilaterally canceled in August 2024 the organization Save The Children Canada, an entity that received funds from the North American country to support children’s development projects. The dictatorship justified this illegalization by attributing that it had not reported its financial statements from 2008 to 2023, and that its board of directors had expired since September 7, 2004.
Other closed NGOs are: Fundaccupon House of Spirituality, Culture, History, Anthropology, Archeology and Nicaraguan Art (CECHAN); Association of Comprehensive Services for Women (SI MUJER); Pentecost Christ Comes Foundation (MPCNIC.); Prinzapolka River Foundation, all unilaterally accused of not promoting transparency policies.
Among the associations that the government claims were voluntarily closed are: Foundation for the Care and Vocational Training of Street Children (NITCA PROJECT), Los Angeles Foundation “ONG FONGELS”, Foundation for Dominican Contemplative Nuns of Nicaragua (MODOCONIC) , Association “Live Together for the Children of Nicaragua”, Foundation Center for the Promotion and Development of Family Business.
Also the evangelical associations: Fundamental Baptist Association of Matagalpa, Help for Nicaragua Foundation, Ebenezer Christian Missionary Foundation, El Maná Foundation.
Related news: Ortega dictatorship formalizes the closure of 200 NGOs
The dissolution of these associations was approved by the Ortega Minister of the Interior, María Amelia Coronel, according to ministerial agreements 01-2025 and 02-2025, both published in the Official Gazette La Gaceta of Nicaragua.
Dictatorship does not detail occupation of movable and immovable property
In the presidential agreements that dissolve the 15 organizations, the assets of the organizations are not specified. In previous cases, the Ministry of the Interior published what corresponded ex officio to the Attorney General’s Office of the Republic to transfer the movable or immovable property of the NGOs canceled in the name of the State of Nicaragua.
The Sandinista government has closed more than 3,000 organizations, including some charitable, religious and educational organizations, accusing them of being linked to the anti-government protests that broke out in April 2018.
