Nicaraguan writer Sergio Ramírez condemned on April 20 the decision of the National Assembly to cancel the legal status of 25 civil organizations, including the Luisa Mercado Foundation (FLM), which he chairs, and assured that with this action the Daniel regime Ortega seeks to “silence civil society and end all expressions of freedom and democracy” in Nicaragua.
The award-winning writer and Sandinista dissident, through an audio sent to the media, described the Nicaraguan Parliament as being an “instrument of repression of the Ortega-Murillo dictatorship,” which arbitrarily closed these 25 organizations dedicated to the promotion of culture, human rights, citizen cooperation and the comprehensive development of Nicaraguan society.
“Suppressing these organizations and confiscating their property means nothing more than the intention of silencing civil society and putting an end to all expressions of freedom and democracy that these types of organizations have carried out,” Mercado said.
Also read: Sergio Ramírez: “I don’t know if my life will last to return to Nicaragua”
This Wednesday, the National Assembly, with a pro-government majority, today canceled the legal status of 25 organizations, including the FLM, the Permanent Commission on Human Rights, and others. From 2018 to date, the dictatorship already has 137 illegal organizations.
“I raise my voice of protest against this action not only because it affects the LWF that I chair from Masatepe, but for all these organizations I also raise my voice, because it means coming out in defense of democracy and freedom in Nicaragua,” the writer continued.
Work of the Luisa Mercado Foundation
The also 2017 Cervantes Prize winner highlighted that for 16 years his foundation has dedicated multiple efforts to promote music education in Nicaragua, teaching dozens of children to play musical instruments, but it was also characterized by promoting culture through a library of more than six thousand volumes, open cultural spaces for young people, for children, putting at their disposal teaching and educational instruments.
“These are the organizational crimes for which the foundation is punished, as other organizations whose rights have been violated today for similar reasons are punished,” lamented the writer.
The former vice president of Nicaragua concluded by believing that “better times” will come for Nicaragua, which will allow the return of democracy and other public freedoms.
“We hope that better times will come, my personal efforts and those of my family to bring culture to a community like Masatepe, which embodies a symbol for the country, because the LWF carried out incomparable work in this town where I was born, it will continue in the future, better times will come for the country, we will recover democracy, we will recover freedom, Nicaragua will once again be a Republic, a republic for all just as Pedro Joaquín Chamorro dreamed of it,” he concluded.
