The Nicaraguan government announced Monday that it has canceled the legal status of 1,500 non-governmental organizations, due to an alleged lack of transparency in their operations, amid a series of actions by the administration of President Daniel Ortega against these groups, which it accuses of financing its opponents.
The measure was published in the official newspaper La Gaceta on Monday, days after the government announced that it would implement reforms to the law to eliminate tax exemptions for NGOs and to require prior authorization from the authorities for their projects.
“They have failed to comply with their obligations (…) since they did not report for periods of between one and 35 years their Financial Statements according to fiscal periods, with a detailed breakdown of income and expenses, trial balance, details of donations and their boards of directors,” says a resolution from the Ministry of the Interior.
Since the 2018 crisis, when more than 362 people died in anti-government protests, according to human rights organizations, the Ortega government has banned more than 5,000 NGOs, private universities, and media outlets, and has expelled and imprisoned opponents.
The Ministry of the Interior also decided to transfer the assets of 1,500 NGOs, which it lists one by one and among which there are several religious, Catholic and Protestant, to the name of the State.
In recent years, authorities Nicaraguans have closed media outlets, Catholic schools and universities, as part of a wave of actions that human rights organizations have described as persecution against the Church.
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