Police, members of the Sandinista Front and security guards from private companies seized two properties of the Jalapa Women’s Association Against Violence (Jalapa-Oyanka), where offices and a shelter operated, members of the organization denounce.
In an interview with CONFIDENTIAL, one of the Oyanka members explained that two people, recognized in Jalapa as members of the Sandinista Front, arrived on November 11, at around 7:45 in the morning, to the office facilities and the shelter of the Association to change the locks, without showing any order or notification.
“Two men appeared, guarded by motorists, dressed in civilian clothes, and changed the locks on the main door of Oyanka’s offices, then police officers came to guard the property from outside,” he denounced.
He added that the same process, of changing locks and location of police surveillance, was carried out in another Oyanka property that was used as a shelter.
The Jalapa Women’s Association Against Violence was stripped, at the end of last August, of its legal status by order of the National Assembly, controlled by the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo.
“It’s a move to keep Oyanka’s assets”
Oyanka members point out that the Ministry of the Interior (Migob) “did not report anything” on the taking of possession of the Association’s real estate, despite the fact that it is up to the organization to decide what to do with its properties or assets that it has .
“We already had a report ready in which we were seeing the possible donation, of both properties, to organizations that had the same objective as Oyanka, although they were not necessarily from the same municipality,” they indicated.
Some members denounce having been “waiting” for the notification from the Ministry of the Interior and point out that the seizure “by force” of both properties responds to “a move to keep the goods, because the notification never arrived and the arguments they presented for take away our legal status never existed ”.
In the decree of annulment of the legal status of Oyanka, and 14 other non-profit organizations, it is established that “lThe assets and shares that belong to the associations and foundations will have, after liquidation, the destination foreseen in the articles of incorporation or in their state. If nothing had been arranged about it, these will become the property of the State ”.
The cancellation of the legal status of Oyanka was based on a report that the director of the Migob’s Department of Registration and Control of Associations, Franya Urey Blandón, where it indicates that the association, like 14 other oenegés, was “headless” , because their boards of directors have expired terms. In addition, they were accused of not having reported “for several years” their financial statements “with detailed disclosures.”
However, the members of Oyanka affirm to have complied at all times with the reports that they had to deliver to the Migob, but, they point out, it was officials of said Ministry who “put a series of obstacles in order not to receive them.” They also highlight that its board of directors was fully constituted, even elected twice due to changes requested by Migob.
In addition, they denounce that the closure of the Association represents a serious impact on women victims of violence in Jalapa, Nueva Segovia, since it was “the only center that, for more than 25 years, was the reference for care for women victims of violence, the only one that the women of Jalapa had accessible to go to and now the women are left alone, without anyone being able to accompany them, to assist on the access routes to justice ”.
Oyanka obtained its legal status on October 29, 1998. Until the cancellation of its legal status, last August, it had a number of 50 associated women. In addition, they had 36 women’s groups, of between 20 and 30 members, organized in different communities of Jalapa.
The Ortega regime, during the first half of 2021, ordered the cancellation of the legal status of 45 oenegés, through the National Assembly that is controlled by his party.
