Nicaraguan authorities announced Friday the cancellation of 100 organizations, mostly religious and evangelical, bringing to more than 2,600 the number of entities suspended so far this year.
Of the cancelled organizations, only two are foreign — Roblealto Filial Association, from Costa Rica, and the Missionary Ministry Mission of the Seventy, from the United States — while the other 98 are national, highlighting, in addition to those of a religious nature, those of a social nature, such as the Association of Abandoned Children of Nicaragua.
Other entities on the list are, according to the newspaper ‘La Prensa’, the Association of Christian Theologians, the Bethlehem Missionary Church Association, as well as the European Foundation for Solidarity among Peoples or the Grenadian Association of Musicians, Singers, Composers, Arrangers and Similar, among others.
The General Law of Regulation and Control of Non-Profit Organizations leaves it in the hands of Daniel Ortega’s Executive to take measures not only against foreign organizations, but also against national ones, through the Ministry of the Interior and without the need for a parliamentary procedure.
Regardless of who signs the orders, the arguments remain the same, since the government accuses the NGOs of administrative irregularities, mainly of not reporting their financial situation or not renewing their boards of directors.
Both the opposition and the international community, including the UN, have questioned this campaign against NGOs, which is part of a wave of repression that began after the 2018 protests and was reinforced in the months leading up to the 2021 elections.
