The Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) issued a statement in which it expresses its deep concern about the possible closure of the Nicaraguan Academy of Language announced by Ortega legislators this Friday, May 27, 2022 and which is expected to be approved by the National Assembly, controlled by the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo, during the course of this week.
The Nicaraguan Academy of Language is an entity with 94 years of existence. It is part of the list of 83 organizations and civil society associations contained in an initiative decree to be closed presented by the Ortega deputy, Filiberto Rodríguez.
“The Nicaraguan Academy of Language is a fundamental institution for the care of the language that writers from the country have brought to their highest degree of excellence, such as teachers Rubén Darío, Alfonso Cortés, Ernesto Mejía, José Coronel Urtecho, Lisandro Chávez, Ernesto Cardenal or Pablo Antonio Cuadra, among others”, cites the RAE statement.
“He carries out tireless work for the direct benefit of the people, who are the owners of the language, and plays an essential role in the international concert as part of the Association of Academies of the Spanish Language (ASALE), to whose joint work they contribute in an exemplary manner. Nicaragua’s cooperation in ASALE’s action promotes the common language as the best instrument for dialogue, harmony and understanding between brother peoples”, he adds.
With these 83 cancellations announced by Congressman Rodríguez , the Ortega regime in its hunt against civil society organizations, it would reach 356 NGOs and associations canceled since 2018, of which 282 will be closed so far in 2022.
Statement from the Royal Spanish Academy @RAEinforms:
The Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) expresses its deep concern over the news of the possible closure of the Nicaraguan Academy of Language proposed to the National Assembly of #Nicaragua. https://t.co/lUK36bj9ve
– Sergio Ramírez (@sergioramirezm) May 30, 2022
“The RAE, which defends the freedoms of thought, expression and association as the first values of any system of coexistence, strongly supports and vindicates the legitimate right of the Nicaraguan Academy of Language to serve its fellow citizens and to make possible the participation of Nicaragua , in terms of equality, in the preservation of the superior cultural asset both of the nation itself and of the community of nations and peoples that share the same language, today the common heritage of almost six hundred million people around the world”, highlights the statement of maximum entity of the Spanish language.
The call of the RAE
“In solidarity with the academics of Nicaragua, the RAE demands the support and adherence of public and private institutions throughout the Spanish-speaking world in order to avoid the disappearance of the Nicaraguan Academy of Language, which would mean serious damage and loss. irreparable for the Spanish language, today the common heritage of almost six hundred million people around the world”, the statement underlines.
The Chilean Academy of Language joined this RAE initiative and joined in rejecting and condemning the regime’s threat against the Nicaraguan Academy of Language.
Statement on the closure of the Nicaraguan Academy. pic.twitter.com/1rx9vf4YD4
— Chilean Academy of Language (@achilenalengua) May 30, 2022
The arguments put forward by the regime to justify these cancellations are the same with which they have justified their hunt for NGOs from the beginning: an alleged failure to submit their financial statements to the Ministry of the Interior (Migob) “according to the fiscal periods with a detailed breakdown of income, expenses, trial balance and details of donations (origin, provenance and final beneficiary)”.
Another of the remarks of the Ortega deputy Rodriguez is that allegedly the NGOs did not report to Migob who make up their boards of directors, previous donations from abroad and identity documents of their funders. He also argues that these associations did not comply with their registration as Foreign Agents.
