The Human Rights Watch (HRW) organization assured that the objective of the Daniel Ortega administration in canceling more than a thousand NGOs since 2018 is to prevent these entities from continuing to expose “the abuses of the government and the inability of the authorities to provide basic services to the Nicaraguan people.
In a release, The human rights organization urged the international community, especially Latin American countries, to speak out and condemn the “systematic dismantling of civil society organizations, which play a critical role in a country where there are no independent institutions that can control the Executive Branch.
According to the initiatives to cancel the legal personality of the Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) headed by the regime, the associations have allegedly violated the laws of Nicaragua, disrespect the legal order and “have tried to trample on the legal norms that govern the laws of this country . They are paper organizations. They do not exist in the lives of Nicaraguan families and communities.
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So far, the number of NGOs outlawed by the National Assembly since the beginning of the sociopolitical crisis in Nicaragua in 2018 amounts to around 1,070.
Tamara Taraciuk Broner, interim director for the Americas at HRW, stressed that “the Nicaraguan authorities are so intent on destroying the little civic space that remains in the country, that they have gone after organizations that provide essential assistance to low-income communities in a country which has been severely affected by two hurricanes and a pandemic.”
“The closed groups include medical associations and organizations working on various issues, ranging from child protection and women’s rights to climate change mitigation,” he stressed.
The DD agency. H H. He argued that most NGOs have been stripped of their legal personality based on “abusive laws” such as the Foreign Agents Law and the General Law for the Regulation and Control of Non-Profit Organizations, approved by the Ortega deputies.
The arbitrary closure of the organizations “is part of a much broader effort to silence civil society groups and independent media outlets through a combination of repressive measures that include abusive laws, intimidation, harassment, arbitrary arrests and criminal prosecution. of human rights defenders and journalists,” he stressed.
In addition, he assured that since 2007, when the dictator Daniel Ortega assumed power “he has dismantled all the institutions that could control the Executiveincluding the judiciary.
