Nicaragua cancels registration of another 100 NGOs, totaling 3,026

The Nicaraguan Ministry of the Interior canceled on Wednesday (24) the legal personality registrations of another 100 NGOs, which increases to 3,026 the number of organizations of this type that were turned illegal after the popular protests in April from 2018.

The illegalization of these 100 NGOs, 91 national and 9 foreign, was approved by the Minister of the Interior, María Amelia Coronel, according to a decree published in the Official Gazette, La Gaceta.

According to the Ministry of the Interior, the 91 local NGOs are in default or have failed to comply with their obligations, including the fact of not reporting on their boards of directors and their financial statements for periods between 3 and 19 years, as well as information on the identity and origin of all its members and donors.

In the case of nine foreign NGOs, including three from Spain and three from the United States, these had their registrations canceled on the grounds that they had been abandoned and had failed to fulfill their obligations for periods ranging from 2 to 21 years.

Of the total number of illegal NGOs, 2,902 had lost their registration up to March of this year, according to a report by 18 organizations that recently denounced in a public hearing before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) “the extreme situation regarding the systematic violation of freedom of association and of the right to defend human rights in Nicaragua.”

Sandinista deputies such as Filiberto Rodríguez allege that the affected NGOs used proceeds from the donations received to try to overthrow Ortega in the demonstrations that broke out in April 2018.

At the time, thousands of Nicaraguans took to the streets to protest a controversial social security reform, which later turned into a movement demanding the resignation of Ortega, who responded with force.

The protests left at least 355 dead according to the IACHR, although local organizations put the number at 684 and the government recognizes 200.

The Sandinistas also argue that the banning of these NGOs is part of an ordering process, since not all of the more than 6,000 registered in the country were in operation.

Nicaragua has been experiencing a political and social crisis since April 2018, which has worsened after the controversial general elections of November 7, 2021, in which Ortega was re-elected for a fifth term, the fourth consecutive and the second along with his wife, Rosario. Murillo, as vice president, with his main competitors in prison or exile.

With information from Gazeta do Povo