Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes lamented this Monday, July 4, the closure and dissolution by the National Assembly, controlled by the regime of Daniel Ortega, of the Association Missionaries of Charity of the Mother Teresa of Calcutta Order, which provided humanitarian assistance in Nicaragua.
“We deeply regret the pain of so many of our brothers who will no longer have the attention they received from the sisters,” Cardinal Brenes said in a public statement.
The dissolution of the Missionaries of Charity, along with 100 other Non-Profit Organizations (NPOs), was approved urgently and without debate last Wednesday by the 75 Sandinista deputies. Other 15 legislators, of the 91 that integrate the Parliament, abstained, and one was absent.
The Missionaries of Charity, created on August 16, 1988 during the first Sandinista regime (1979-1990) after a visit to Nicaragua by Mother Teresa of Calcutta, maintained a nursery, a home for abused or abandoned girls, and a nursing home, which began to close on June 15.
They assisted “the poorest”
Brenes, also archbishop of the archdiocese of Managua, stressed that “the foundation of the Missionary Sisters of Charity of Santa Teresa de Calcutta” provided assistance “to the poorest of our Nicaraguan society.”
The nuns administered the Immaculate Heart of Mary Home in the city of Granada, where they housed abandoned adolescents or victims of abuse, to whom they provided psychological help and comprehensive education.
Along with regular classes, they taught music, theater, sewing, beauty and other trades so that they could reintegrate into life.
They also had a nursing home in Managua, to whom they provided food, clothing and other care.
They also developed a project in which they provided tutoring to students at risk, mostly children of working women from popular markets.
They also had a nursery in which they cared for dozens of children from low-income families, whose parents -mainly single mothers and vendors in markets, street vendors, or on their own-, do not have to pay for the care of their children.
These charities began to be gradually suspended since June 15, when they were notified by the authorities that they were going to close them.
In his message, Cardinal Brenes expressed his “gratitude for his invaluable service to our local churches.”
“Dear sisters: count on our closeness, solidarity and our humble prayers,” she added.
+++Press Release: On the cancellation of the legal status of the Foundation of the Missionary Sisters of Charity of Saint Teresa of Calcutta.+++
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– Archdiocese of Managua (@arquimanagua) July 4, 2022
They did not have permission from the government
According to a report from the General Directorate of Registration and Control of Non-Profit Organisms of the Ministry of the Interior, the Missionaries of Charity failed to “comply with their obligations” in accordance with the law that regulates them, and the Money Laundering Law, the Financing of Terrorism and Financing of the Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction.
Among others, the Missionaries of Charity allege that they were not accredited by the Ministry of the Family to function as a daycare center, a child development center, a home for girls, or a nursing home, nor did they have permission from the Ministry of Education to carry out learning reinforcement.
Another reason for dissolving this NGO, detailed the Ministry of the Interior, is that the Board of Directors was made up solely of citizens of other nationalities, and the new law that regulates them, in force for two months, establishes that only 25% of the people who make up the board may be foreigners.
In the first half of 2022, the Daniel Ortega regime canceled 796 NGOs and, since the end of 2018, the dictatorship has canceled 870 Non-Profit Organizations (NPO).
under police siege
The afternoon of Wednesday, June 29 a police device was positioned at the entrances to the Immaculate Heart of Mary Home, in Granada, where six Missionaries of Charity still remain. At 1:30 pm that day, a police patrol parked near the main entrance of the place, about five riot police got out, who stood in formation and were aware of any movement around the building, they confirmed to CONFIDENTIAL neighbors of the area.
The police siege continued throughout the afternoon, after the Parliament, dominated by the Sandinista Front, made official the cancellation of the legal status of the religious congregation.
Sources close to the premises indicated to this media outlet that the harassment continued on Thursday, June 30. The police patrol parked at the entrance to the Home and police officers stationed themselves at the doors and gates of the premises.
