The Bridge Movementan organization that works on citizenship issues, rejected and denounced the actions of the Nicaraguan regime of wanting to “bury” the right of association in the country.
They point out that the dictator Daniel Ortega has annihilated more than two thousand NGOs through the creation of new laws and reforms. “Organizing is not a crime, it is a human right!” said the Puente Movement.
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He also recalled that on March 31 of this year, the National Assembly controlled by the ruling party approved Law 1115 or the General Law for the Regulation and Control of Non-Profit Organizations.
They also explain that with the approval of the new legislation, the previous Law 147, “General Law of Non-Profit Legal Entities”, was repealed.
“The new regulations granted greater powers to the Ministry of the Interior and the General Directorate of Registration and Control of Non-Profit Organizations on the regulation and control of NGOs,” said the Puente Movement.
Related news: Human Rights Collective condemns the new raid to annihilate 200 NGOs
On the other hand, and in reference to an initiative to reform and add to Law 1115, the General Law for the Regulation and Control of Non-Profit Organizations, the Movement stated what has already been said by other organizations, which denounce that Ortega granted the Ministry of the Interior (MIGOB) the power to cancel organizations without the need to go through the National Assembly.
For its part, the Ortega regime continues to justify the annihilation of non-governmental organizations, arguing that the affected NGOs allegedly failed to comply with their obligations as established in the Law for the Regulation and Control of Non-Profit Organizations and its Regulations, and the Law Against Money Laundering, Financing of Terrorism and Financing of the Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction.
Ortega’s actions are carried out despite the fact that many organizations that have already been canceled have denied these accusations, stating that the compliance documents were never received or that they were simply rejected.
According to the count of the Human Rights Collective Nicaragua Nunca Más, the Ministry of the Interior and the National Assembly since 2018, have canceled the legal status of at least 2973 organizations, both national and international, “whose purpose is to exercise absolute control and silence society; persecute those who have a different opinion and establish a single thought, violating the human rights of the Nicaraguan people.”