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The government of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega launched a new crackdown on civil society organizations, closing 169 non-governmental organizations on Thursday, including the child protection organization Save the Children. The organizations closed included about 90 evangelical churches and associations, about 40 ranchers’ associations, a Catholic entity, a group of retired academics, and foundations to fight cancer and AIDS.
The Ministry of Interior ordered to “cancel the legal person status and registration of 169 companies Non-profit organizations According to a resolution published in the official newspaper La Gaceta, the government will close the NGOs for failing to comply with the law. Under current law, the assets of these organizations will be handed over to the state. With these closures, the number of NGOs closed by the Ortega government in the past six years has risen to nearly 5,500.
The government of Ortega and his powerful wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, toughened laws against non-governmental organizations after opposition protests broke out in 2018, killing more than 300 people in three months, according to the United Nations. Nine days ago, the government shut down 1,500 NGOs, mostly religious organizations, in a move the U.N. human rights office called “extremely alarming.”
Ortega, a 78-year-old former guerrilla who ruled Nicaragua in the 1980s and returned to power in 2007, has claimed that nongovernmental organizations, particularly the Catholic Church, have supported the protests, which he sees as a coup attempt backed by Washington.
Additionally, on August 22, a new Nicaraguan law came into effect requiring churches to pay taxes and stipulating that non-governmental organizations can only operate in “partnership” with state entities.
Ortega’s government, which faces U.S. and European Union sanctions for what it calls authoritarian measures, has also shut down Catholic radio stations and universities.
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