The National Assembly, with a Sandinista majority, approved the closure of 25 civil society organizations, raising 174 illegal NGOs in five months of 2022. This is the second cancellation it has made, after in the session on May 4, it annulled the legal personality of another 50 foundations, associations and organizations.
With 75 votes in favor, 15 abstentions and one present, the parliamentarians approved, in a special session to commemorate the 127th anniversary of the birth of Augusto C. Sandino, one of two decrees presented by the Ortega deputy, Filiberto Rodríguez, in which he requests the annulment of 44 NGOs, adding both documents.
With the first decree approved this Wednesday, 25 organizations were annulled. The second, which is likely to be discussed this Thursday, will eliminate another 19 organizations. The justification indicated in the texts is the same: the NGOs broke the law.
During his intervention in the plenary, Rodríguez criticized the neoliberal governments that allowed the growth of NGOs for their inability to make a better country. “They couldn’t and irresponsibly left the country in the hands of associations and these associations asked for reals everywhere, and money came from everywhere, and it didn’t matter where the money came from,” he said.
He also pointed out that the NGOs have “clear objectives” and participate in what they call the “coup d’état” of 2018, which has been the regime’s version to try to hide the brutal repression that left 355 murdered in the context of the 2018 protests. , according to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).
“When it comes to rendering an account -the NGOs-, they cannot render an account, they do not know how to render an account, they do not want to render an account and they lend themselves to the game, also many of the empire, as they did with the attempt to overthrow our Government with the coup attempt, and used resources for that purpose. In this sense, we reaffirm the commitment to fight”, threatened the deputy, who has practically been in charge of presenting the decrees to eliminate civil society NGOs before Parliament.
The Ministry of the Interior (Migob) alleges that the organizations violated Law 1115 or the General Law for the Regulation and Control of Non-Profit Organisms, -which entered into force on May 6- and Law 977 or the Law against Money Laundering. Assets, Financing of Terrorism and Financing of the Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction and its regulations, according to a report presented by the head of the General Directorate of Registration and Control of Non-Profit Organizations, of Migob, Franya Urey Blandón.
It adds that the NGOs have failed to present financial statements according to fiscal periods with detailed breakdowns (income, expenses, trial balance, details of donations, origin, provenance and final beneficiary); They also point out that they have expired boards of directors and do not account for previous donations from abroad.
However, former directors of canceled NGOs confirmed that the Migob is the one that has imposed a series of obstacles to complete the required paperwork and work legally. They have also established obstacles for registration as a “foreign agent”, which is mandated by the “Regulation of Foreign Agents” law, approved by the Ortega regime in October 2020.
Among the organizations canceled in this package are Pro-Rescue of Youth in Gangs, the Meeting Points Foundation for the Transformation of Daily Life, the Association for the Accompanied Integral Development of Nicaragua and its Communities, the Full Life Association (ASOVIP) and others. .
In the other decree, which has not yet been approved, it is proposed to eliminate the Foundation responsible for the prestigious Granada International Poetry Festival, four organizations that work in defense of women’s rights from different fields, such as attention to sexist violence and the promotion of economic development and local development and 14 others.
The regime has annulled 248 civil society organizations from 2018 to date, including associations, foundations, institutes, centers and organizations.
Dozens of these developed education projects, medical programs such as those carried out by Operation Smile, environmental protection, promotion and defense of human rights, social development, democracy, culture, indigenous people, children and adolescents.
For this reason, the former directors of NGOs who have agreed to speak with CONFIDENTIAL They point out that the main affected by their mandatory closures are the beneficiaries of the initiatives they carried out.
