The Nicaraguan regime canceled this Tuesday (23) the legal status of 15 new NGOs, bringing to more than 3,600 the total number of entities of this type banned in the country since December 2018.
The dissolution of these organizations was approved in Managua by the Minister of the Interior of the Sandinista dictatorship, María Amelia Coronel, according to two ministerial agreements published in Nicaragua’s official newspaper, La Gaceta.
The Ministry of the Interior reported that it unilaterally closed nine NGOs for “not complying with the laws that regulate them” and the other six because they had “requested their voluntary dissolution”.
Among the 15 NGOs canceled were the National Chamber of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, the Association of Small Hotel Owners of Nicaragua, the Association of Airlines, as well as evangelical Christian entities.
Regarding the liquidation of the assets of these organizations, the Ministry of the Interior indicated that the Attorney General’s Office will be responsible for the transfer of movable and immovable assets to the Nicaraguan State, except in the case of those that “requested voluntary dissolution”.
With the closure of these 15 NGOs, more than 3,600 organizations of this type were dissolved following the popular protests that broke out in April 2018 against Daniel Ortega’s regime.
Some deputies who support the dictatorship, such as Filiberto Rodríguez, accused the affected NGOs of using resources from donations they received to try to “overthrow Ortega in the demonstrations”.
Regime politicians also claim that the illegalization of these NGOs is part of a “regularization process”, as not all of the 7,227 registered in Nicaragua in 2018 were operating.
Nicaragua has been experiencing a political and social crisis since April 2018, which intensified after the controversial general elections of November 7, 2021, in which Ortega was “re-elected” for a fifth term, which is also the fourth consecutive and the second having his own wife, Rosario Murillo, as “vice president”. Furthermore, the main opponents were in prison or in exile.