The National Assembly (Parliament) of Nicaragua, controlled by the Sandinistas, urgently approved this Thursday a law that will regulate and control non-governmental organizations (NGOs), of which more than 100 have been outlawed in the last four years.
The General Law for the Regulation and Control of Non-Profit Organizations was approved with the vote of the 77 Sandinista deputies and their allies, with 12 abstentions, zero against and two who did not exercise their right to vote.
Sandinista legislator Loria Raquel Dixon, who presented the initiative, explained in plenary session that this law replaces the previous regulation, the General Law on Non-Profit Legal Entities, approved on March 19, 1992 and which had been in force for 30 years. .
Related news: https://www.articulo66.com/2022/03/31/daniel-ortega-cancelacion-ong-nicaragua-confiscacion/
The new regulations grant greater powers to the Ministry of the Interior and the General Directorate of Registration and Control of Non-Profit Organizations over the regulation and control of NGOs, he said.
“It will allow to improve its capacity and coverage for the effective and efficient application of the law. In addition, it includes the minimum content of the constitutive instruments and statute”, he assured.
The Sandinista deputy also pointed out that “the issuance of a new law that regulates the operation of non-profit organizations is given in the face of the social, economic and legal reality of the country.”
Related news: Lawyer Carlos Guadamuz: «Ortega does not accept any type of inspection. It will close more NGOs»
“The International Financial Action Task Force (FATF), of which the State of Nicaragua is a subscriber, stated that Non-Profit Organizations (NPOs) play a vital role in the national economy and society,” he said in the initiative.
“However, that same body in its ongoing international campaign against money laundering and financing of terrorism has shown that NPOs are likely to be used by transnational organized crime,” he argued in the document.
He argued that this law will promote “transparency practices in the execution of projects of a religious, charitable, civil, social, cultural and educational nature developed by the initiative establishes the powers of the Ministry of the Interior and the General Directorate of Registration and Control of Non-Profit Organisations”.
“DEMOLITION OF THE FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION BY LAW”
Fifteen days ago, the government of President Daniel Ortega reaffirmed its hard line by banning another 25 NGOs, including an association of journalists, another that supports freedom of the press and expression, an environmentalist, and other women’s defenders. , indigenous and human rights.
With the cancellation of these 25 organizations, including the Nicaraguan subsidiary of Operación Sonrisa, there were a total of 112 local NGOs that have been canceled since December 2018, eight months after a popular revolt broke out over controversial social security reforms described as an attempted coup by the Ortega government.
The Executive, through the Ministry of the Interior, has also canceled the registrations and perpetual numbers of four US and six European NGOs, and temporarily closed the club of Spanish citizens residing in Nicaragua, Casa España.
In a study called “The brutal demolition of the Freedom of Association in Nicaragua”, prepared by the Fundación del Río and Popol Na, also outlawed, they indicated that as of February 21, at least 115 Nicaraguan NGOs had been canceled or “ raided. facto” since Ortega returned to power in 2007, of which 87 in the last three years, to which those 25 must be added.
Nicaragua has been going through a political and social crisis since April 2018, which has been accentuated after the controversial general elections on November 7, in which Ortega was re-elected for a fifth term, fourth consecutive and second along with his wife, Rosario Murillo, as vice president, with her main contenders in prison.
