In its eagerness to demolish freedom of association in Nicaragua, the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo ordered the head of the Ministry of the Interior (Migob), Amelia Coronel Kinloch, to cancel the legal personality of 100 non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
To date, there are already 1,975 non-profit foundations and associations outlawed by the Ortega Murillo regime from December 2018 to September 2022, according to a count by the Nicaragua Never Again Human Rights Collective.
In this new round of NGO closures, the dictatorship withdrew the operating permit for the programs and projects executed in the country by the canceled organizations that, according to La Gaceta No. 174 of this Monday, September 19, 2022, were dedicated to the subject environmental, defense of the rights of women and children, care for people with disabilities, community development and medical.
Related news: Ortega dictatorship formalizes the closure of 200 NGOs
They attributed the banning of the 200 NGOs to allegedly being “abandoned and between four and 24 years of non-compliance with their obligations under the laws that regulate them.” These organizations had their registrations and perpetual numbers canceled to work in the country.
In three days, the organizations will have to deliver all the documents related to the liquidation of their goods and assets, in addition, the accounting books, minute books and registration of members. The ministerial agreement 01-2022 OSFL of the Migob was issued on September 12, but came into force this day after its publication in the official state gazette.
The count of the Nicaraguan Human Rights Collective Never Again details that 27 NGOs were for the defense of human rights; 51 from indigenous or autonomous communities; nine from journalists; 342 of social promotion and development; 114 of art, science and culture; 178 municipal development; 81 female doctors and 137 who worked on children’s and women’s issues, among others.
Human rights organizations maintain that “the purpose of these cancellations is exercise absolute control and silence society; persecute those who think differently and establish a single thought, violating the human rights of the Nicaraguan people.
NGOs have been accused of violating Law 1040, the Foreign Agents Regulation Law; and Law 977, Law Against Money Laundering, the Financing of Terrorism and the Financing of the Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction.
