This September 8, when a new Entrepreneur’s Day arrived, there were no pomposes, no prizes, no celebrations. Neither is a reminder to demand the freedom of the five businessmen political prisoners of the Daniel Ortega regime for more than a year: José Adán Aguerri, Luis Rivas Anduray, Michael Healy, Álvaro Vargas and Juan Lorenzo Holmann. Only a statement in which the Superior Council of Private Enterprise (Cosep), recalls that “today, which marks the Nicaraguan Entrepreneur’s Day, we extend our congratulations to all Nicaraguan entrepreneurs, who thanks to their effort and dedication, contribute with the economic development of our country.
“The private sector knows that these people act against those they think oppose them.Everything that goes against private enterprise strengthens a negative image of the country. Impose restrictions and incorporate elements of uncertainty”, invites investors to be cautioussaid to CONFIDENTIAL a member of the COSEP Board of Directors, who preferred to remain anonymous.
Today, when the Nicaraguan Entrepreneur’s Day is celebrated, we extend our congratulations to all Nicaraguan entrepreneurs, who, thanks to their effort and dedication, contribute to the economic development of our country.#NationalEntrepreneursDay#COSEP pic.twitter.com/NLgIIPdciW
— COSEP Nicaragua (@COSEPNicaragua) September 8, 2022
After implementing for almost a decade a policy of ‘agreements and consensus‘ With the private sector, which was even elevated to constitutional status, the dictatorship decided to take revenge on its former allies, after the business community organized in Cosep denounced the massacre of citizens during the April Rebellion.
If at the beginning, attacks targeted small businesses who joined some of the national strikes for a day, in 2019 the first of the generalized attacks against the private sector in full would arrive: the 2019 tax reformthat intended to raise $300 millionand instead of that, raised total tax collection by more than $720 millionbetween January 2021 and March 2022.
that amount rose again at the end of the first half of the yearand it is foreseeable that this year it could exceed 100,000 million córdobas in collections.
After that came the fiscal harassment, the smuggling of cigarettes, the direct confiscation of companies, one of which generated a lawsuit for 590 million dollars against the Mificwhich is aired in a court in the United States, without neglecting the capture and conviction of several leaders of the private sector, as well as the most recent ‘Real Estate Brokerage Law’, which imposes a new battery of charges for companies and industry professionals.
“The truth is that this law took us by surprise,” said a professional who will be affected by these changes that forced businessmen in the sector to sit down and analyze the consequences for their companies, in a market that has been in existence for several years. depressed.
Until the middle of last year, Cosep still raised his voice to claim the attacks he suffereduntil he decided to implement the policy that “silence also communicates”. That did not prevent Michael Healy and Álvaro Vargas, president and vice president of Cosep, were arbitrarily detainedwhich generated much concern in Central America Y a wave of solidarity on the continent towards them, and condemnation against the regime.
The risk of investing in Nicaragua
“If before there was more flexibility and openness to solve the problems posed by companies, now we see that all state agencies are ready to delay the processes, and to impose penalties and fines”, said the director of Cosep quoted before.
“Although they allege a series of reasons to try to justify themselves, the truth is that their actions take place in a political environment that invalidates all these arguments, the only difference is political retaliation,” he added.
The most obvious consequence of this way of relating to companies -particularly those with the greatest economic muscle, which are the ones that can pay the most- is a campaign of tax harassment(in which highlights its customs variant), marked by a policy that first fine and then extort to reduce the amount of those fines.
Some companies received a much greater punishment, being forced to close, or being definitively confiscated. It is Tomza’s casethe Guatemalan capital company that was dedicated to marketing liquefied gas for cooking, whose facilities in Tipitapa were simply taken over, generating a loss of 4 million dollars.
Since then, the pawnshop Prisa was also confiscatedas well as Alice Jewelryboth owned by Mexican-American businessman Mario Hurtado, against whom it was also announced that an international arrest warrant would be issued through Interpol. Previously, the security company Delta had been ordered closed, and more than 800 security agents disarmed (and fired), or the closure of expicamore recently.
Each of the 54 channels, publication and radio station that was closed they were also a company that was forced to close, sending journalists, administrators, security guards and all kinds of support personnel to unemployment, which has increased the number of migrants who run all kinds of risks to reach the United States or Costa Rica.
