The Nicaraguan regime outlawed 25 non-governmental organizations this Thursday, March 17. Children, women, indigenous and Afro-descendant peoples are the most affected by this decision by Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo.
Some of the outlawed NGOs were dedicated to defending the rights of indigenous peoples, putting a smile on the faces of children, warning about the effects of climate change and preventing violence in Nicaragua. All that work was buried by the dictatorial binomial.
The Center for Justice and Human Rights of the Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua: (Cejudhcan) has been working in Nicaragua since 1997. It is a non-governmental, non-profit organization of a humanitarian nature, made up of indigenous professionals, dedicated to the promotion and defense of human rights with a focus on the collective and territorial rights of indigenous peoples and Afro-descendant from Nicaragua.
Related news: Cenidh denounces the illegalization of 25 NGOs: “It is a direct attack on the right to defend human rights”
The organization is led by territorial leader Lottie Cunningham, a prominent human rights defender in the Nicaraguan Caribbean. In 2018, Cunningham was part of the various civil society organizations that denounced before international organizations the repression of the Ortega-Murillo dictatorship, especially that suffered by the Caribbean communities due to the invasion of settlers and the massacres against indigenous peoples.
In 2003, it facilitated a process to articulate and coordinate with civil society organizations at the request of the Indigenous and Afro-descendant territorial governments, spaces for dialogue that would allow consensus and validation of a single procedure for the last stage of legalization of the lands of the peoples. originating: the sanitation stage.
Through its various programs, it intends that the indigenous peoples and ethnic communities of the Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua have access to justice for the defense of their territorial rights to have social and environmental justice with a gender approach.
Ineter’s Counterweight
Humboldt Center is an organization focused on promoting territorial development through sustainable management of the environment and natural resources. Institutional work is organized based on a policy of alliances with civil society organizations and the organized instances that constitute their counterparts. In addition, they develop strategies for the solution of environmental and local problems in favor of sustainable development.
In 29 years of experience, they have fostered the active participation of communities, strengthening their technical, organizational and management capacities, with equity; through prioritized issues: climate change, comprehensive risk management, water resources, extractive activities and sustainable energy.
In the independent media, they were a source of consultation on the subject of climate, climate change, mining, among others, as an option in the face of the regime’s secrecy with State institutions such as the Nicaraguan Institute of Territorial Studies (Ineter) and its inaccurate weather forecasts.
The Humboldt Center’s executive director is engineer Víctor Campos. From the organization has denounced that in the country there has been a weakening in the national legal framework that has endangered the environment.
They will no longer draw smiles in Nicaraguan children
Operation Smile is a non-profit, non-governmental organization founded in 1994. The president is Jaffa Snow Coen, wife of Nicaraguan businessman Piero Coen, a critic of the Ortega-Murillo dictatorship.
It is made up of a group of qualified doctors and paramedical personnel, who work voluntarily with people who give their time and energy, to carry out surgical sessions, multidisciplinary treatment and educational programs. The main objective is to offer comprehensive and free care to low-income children, youth and adults with cleft lip and palate.
In Nicaragua, 1 in 5 babies are born with cleft lip and cleft palate, according to the organization. During 2021, 31,577 consultations were provided to 2,000 patients receiving the 18 specialties of the comprehensive care program. This Friday, March 18, they would make a national collection to continue serving children.
Operation Smile is a member of Operation Smile International, an international medical organization, which has performed hundreds of thousands of free surgeries in developing countries on children and young adults born with cleft lip and/or palate or other facial deformities. It is one of the oldest and largest volunteer-based organizations dedicated to improving the health and lives of children around the world through surgical care.
They worked on violence prevention
The Violence Prevention Center (Ceprev) is a non-profit NGO founded in 1997 with the aim of contributing to the construction of a culture of peace in Nicaragua and Central America, preventing and addressing the various forms of violence in areas such as the family, the school, the community and institutions, through the application of a methodology designed by this organization, which today is used and replicated in various countries.
Ceprev is directed in Nicaragua by the Chilean-Nicaraguan Monica Zalaquett, a prominent psychologist, journalist, writer and lecturer. Since the foundation of Ceprev, almost thirteen thousand young people in gangs or youth groups have been trained and most of them have abandoned violence, drug use and gang membership, and have joined work or study. At least 500 have benefited from scholarships managed directly by the organization.
Some 120 youth gangs have been dismantled since the beginning of their intervention. The organization has a territorial network of 30 promoters and promoters and a movement called “Youth for Peace”, a group made up of 365 young people who have left violence and support others.
They outlaw NGOs run by political prisoners
Among the organizations banned this Thursday is the Violeta Barrios de Chamorro Foundation (FVBCH), which had announced the cessation of operations at the beginning of 2021 when it refused to submit to the Foreign Agents Law, its president is the presidential candidate and political prisoner, Christiana Chamorro. Another canceled NGO is the Nicaraguan Foundation for Economic and Social Development (Funides), said organization is investigated by the Public Ministry, the political prisoner and presidential candidate Juan Sebastián Chamorro was its president.
The Foundation for Freedom is an organization that serves as a think tank and a space for dialogue and promotion of a free, open, responsible and prosperous society in Nicaragua and Central America and is linked to the political prisoner and presidential candidate Félix Maradiaga. The Association of Nicaraguan Journalists «Dr. Pedro Joaquín Chamorro» is directed by the journalist Alfredo Salinas.
The Ethics and Transparency Civic Group, in charge of monitoring the electoral processes in Nicaragua, although it has been blocked by the regime, is headed by Roberto Courtney. The Christian Center for Human Rights Association, led by its president, Pastor Norman Marenco, has denounced since 2018 the repression of the Daniel Ortega regime against the Nicaraguan people.
