Brian Nichols, US Undersecretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, warned that the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo “plans to close 1,797 nonprofit organizations, but the actual number could be much higher.” From 2018 to date, the Sandinista government has outlawed 1,080 NGOs.
The Ortega-Murillo regime in Nicaragua said it plans to close 1,797 nonprofits, but the actual number could be much higher. The regime cares more about remaining in power than about the welfare of its people. pic.twitter.com/eGD4wzihrf
— Brian A. Nichols (@WHAAsstSecty) July 19, 2022
On his Twitter account, the senior official posted that “the regime cares more about remaining in power than about the well-being of its people.”
According to Nichols, “the Ortega and Murillo regime attacks NGOs because it fears that they could undermine its power, thus depriving the Nicaraguan people of vital services such as health, education and others that the Government does not provide.”
The Ortega and Murillo regime attacks NGOs because it fears that they could undermine its power, thus depriving the Nicaraguan people of vital services such as health, education and others that the government does not provide.
This week we highlight the impact on the Nicaraguan people. pic.twitter.com/TKSI5HF2tX
— Brian A. Nichols (@WHAAsstSecty) July 18, 2022
So far in 2022, Ortega and Murillo have canceled 1,006 Non-Profit Organizations (NPOs). A monitoring of CONFIDENTIAL shows that the regime has closed environmental, educational, child rights defenders, human rights, women, adolescents, indigenous rights, culture, entrepreneurship, democracy and health NGOs, regardless of the impact this has generated to their beneficiaries .
More than 30% of the 1,080 canceled NPOs focused on various areas of development, while more than 15% executed social projects and served disadvantaged communities and risk groups.
HRW: “Making government abuses invisible”
Tamara Taraciuk Broner, acting director for the Americas at Human Rights Watch, pointed out that “the Ortega regime in Nicaragua has systematically closed human rights organizations and other non-governmental groups, to prevent government abuses from being made visible and the inability of the authorities to provide basic services to the Nicaraguan people.”
According to a press release from the international organizationTaraciuk stressed that “the Nicaraguan authorities are so intent on destroying the little civic space that remains in the country that they have gone after organizations that provide essential assistance to low-income communities in a country that has been seriously affected by two hurricanes and a pandemic. ”.
According to HRW, the closure of non-governmental organizations is part of a much broader effort to silence civil society groups and independent media, through a combination of repressive measures that include abusive laws, intimidation, harassment, arbitrary arrests and persecution. prison for human rights defenders and journalists. Since he took office in 2007, Ortega has dismantled all the institutions that could oversee the Executive, including the Judiciary.
This Monday, the National Assembly —dominated by the Sandinista Front— canceled the legal personalities of ten other NGOsincluding the Association for Agricultural Development of Nicaragua (Expica), a regional organization based in the country, whose annual fair was the mecca of the Central American livestock sector, attended not only by exhibitors from the isthmus, but also by businessmen from Mexico and United States, to Colombia and Brazil.
The fair was ready to start this Thursday, July 21 —with a duration of ten days—, in which the best copies of Central America were exhibited and sold free of taxes.
laws of the regime
The regime accuses the organizations of not registering as foreign agents with the Ministry of the Interior (Migob) and failing to comply with the General Law of Regulation and Control of Non-Profit Organizationswhich entered into force on May 6, “hindered the control and surveillance” carried out by the Migob.
The canceled organizations do not have the right to appeal the decision of Parliament and, in many cases, the former directors have denounced that the Migob established obstacles for them to comply with all the requirements mandated by law, including the Foreign Agents Regulation Law, pointed out by lawyers to be an unconstitutional norm.
To register as a “foreign agent”, an organization must obtain a “proof of registration” of the Interior, which implies compliance with vague and onerous requirements.
Several people interviewed by Human Rights Watch, including members of canceled NGOs, said that the Ortega authorities often do not issue this certificate for “arbitrary reasons.”
Some noted that the authorities required documentation to be submitted on colored paper rather than white paper. Others claimed that, as a condition for issuing the certificate, the authorities pressured them to exclude or replace some members of their board of directors who they perceived as critics of the government, according to HRW.
