The Nicaraguan regime has closed 1,500 NGOs, most of them religious, according to an official resolution, in what is the largest closure of organizations organized by President Daniel Ortega since the protests against him in 2018.
According to a decision by the Ministry of the Interior, published in the official newspaper La Gaceta, the cancellation of the registration of these 1,500 NGOs is due to the fact that “they did not report their financial statements for periods of between 01 and 35 years,” and their assets will be seized by the State.
Related news: Nicaraguan dictatorship decapitates 1,500 NGOs with a single blow
Nicaragua has maintained its laws on civil associations since protests against the Ortega government in 2018, which left more than 300 people dead in three months, according to United Nations reports.
The unprecedented closure of NGOs announced on Monday brings to more than 5,200 the number of civil organizations closed by the government since 2018.
In addition to religious entities, the legal status of numerous charitable societies, Rotary and chess clubs, sports associations, small business associations, rural associations and associations for retirees was revoked. The Nicaraguan Red Cross was also revoked.
Indigenous organizations and those of former combatants from the struggle between the Sandinista government and the Contra rebels in the 1980s were also closed down.
The Sandinista mayors of the municipalities of Murra and Boaco and the vice mayor of Bluefields, the latter in the Autonomous Region of the North Caribbean Coast (RACCN), were arbitrarily dismissed in recent days.
Related news: Dictatorship dismisses mayors of Murra, Boaco and Bluefields, to add 18 councilors
The dictatorship continues with purges within the Sandinista party and state structures, according to the independent observatory Urnas Abiertas (UA).
According to information confirmed by UA, the mayor of Murra, Nueva Segovia, Luis Averruz López, was dismissed and replaced by deputy mayor Melba Dalila Valladares Colindres.
The dismissal of the now ex-mayor Averruz López was allegedly motivated by an alleged “case of embezzlement,” a scandal for which other municipal officials were removed from their positions.
Sandinista Karla Yaoska Espinoza Peña, who had held that position under the protection of the Sandinistas since 2018, was also removed from her position as mayor of the municipality of Boaco.
The deputy mayor of Bluefields, RACCS, Carla Martin Brooks, who had served as mayor from 2013 to 2018, periods in which she was already removed, is added to the list of mayors arbitrarily dismissed.
“According to citizen networks, Martin was removed for an alleged corruption case from 2015. However, the CGR audits between 2015 and 2020, reviewed by Urnas Abiertas, show that the municipality received six audits without any irregularities being detected,” the citizen organization notes.
Seven-year-old Hollman Ariel Gaitán, reported missing on the afternoon of Sunday, August 18, was found dead inside his home.
The National Police, in a press conference, reported that the minor’s body was found wrapped in a black plastic bag, under the bed of his stepbrother, identified as Eduard Enrique Gaitán.
Related news: Hollman Gaitán, a boy reported missing in Catarina, found dead
They detailed that the murder of the minor would have occurred at around 1:20 in the afternoon on Sunday, August 18, when Edward Enrique called the minor to his room, hit him on the head and covered his mouth so that he would not scream, and then strangled him.
The alleged perpetrator of the crime has already been arrested and presented publicly by the police.
