The Parliament of Nicaragua, with a Sandinista majority, approved this Thursday, June 16, the cancellation of the legal personality of 98 civil society organizations, which add to the 93 eliminated this Wednesdaywith which the regime illegalized 191 NGOs in two days, supposedly for failing to comply with Nicaraguan legislation.
With 74 votes in favor, and 16 abstentions, the annulment decree of these 98 new organizations, foundations, and associations, which worked in the areas of indigenous rights, social development, local development, education, and care for women and children in different areas, was approved. from Nicaragua.
The Ortega legislator Filiberto Rodríguez – the main promoter of the annulment of the NGOs – has threatened that the cancellations will continue, as part of the regime’s mission to enforce the law and an alleged order in conjunction with the Ministry of the Interior (Migob).
The Ortega party assures that the organizations have not complied with the presentation of their financial statements, “according to the fiscal periods with a detailed breakdown of income, expenses, trial balance and details of donations, (origin, provenance and final beneficiary)”; They also did not report who makes up their boards of directors, previous donations from abroad, identity documents of their funders, and did not register as Foreign Agents.
This argument is repeated in each decree, without presenting particular evidence for each organization. The Migob also does not respond to questions from former directors of NGOs stripped of their legal status, who point out that they impose obstacles in the registration processes as foreign agents and other documentation necessary to be in order.
With this new round, the number of NGOs canceled by Ortega from the end of 2018 to date amounts to 669, with 2022 being the most disastrous year for the organized civil organization, since 88% of the illegalizations have occurred in what goes from the present; exactly 595.
The hunt against the organizations intensified from May, when the ruling party canceled 188 NGOs, followed by June, which in its 16 days has 313 associations cancelled.
blow to development
The recently banned organizations worked for the development of various departments of the country, including the Nicaraguan Caribbean, promoting community strengthening activities, use of natural resources and protection of the environment.
In general, the Ortega regime has affected with this guillotine projects focused on caring for women victims of sexist violence; school reinforcement in boys and girls; social assistance through soup kitchens and nursing homes; job creation and assistance through entrepreneurship; access to clean water, sustainable agriculture and medical assistance. At the same time, it has hit art and culture, by closing spaces like Fundación Semillas, Amigos de la Niñez, which promoted reading through libraries or the Nueva Acropolis organization, focused on philosophical reflection groups.
Previously, the Government closed the Nicaraguan Academy of Language, the Nicaraguan Center for Writers, the Luisa Mercado Foundation, the Foundation for the Development of Solentiname founded in 1982 by the great Nicaraguan poet Ernesto Cardenal (RIP)., critical until his death of Daniel Ortega and others.
Some of the 191 affected by these two decrees are: the Nicaraguan Educational Forum Association (Eduquemos), the Nicaraguan Foundation for Conservation (Cocibolca Foundation), the Nicaraguan Association for Progress and Development (Aprodenic), the Young XXI Century Association and the Nicaraguan Federation of Universities. Private and Higher Education Institutions (FENUP).
For its part, the Migob accuses the organizations of violating three laws: Law 1115, General Law for the Regulation and Control of Non-Profit Organizations; the Law against Money Laundering, Financing of Terrorism and the Financing of the Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction or Law 977 and Law 1040, Law for the Regulation of Foreign Agents.
