Nicaraguan Parliament dismantles another 15 NGOs; those banned now number 49

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Nicaragua’s National Assembly (Parliament) on Thursday (26) canceled the legal personality of another 15 NGOs, bringing to 49 the number of local entities outlawed since the outbreak of the socio-political crisis in the country in April 2018.

Among the 15 disbanded NGOs, at the request of the Government of Nicaragua, through the Ministry of the Interior, is the Mejía Godoy Foundation, of Nicaraguan singer-songwriters Carlos and Luis Enrique Mejía Godoy.

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The decree of cancellation of the legal personalities of the 15 NGOs was approved with the vote of 70 Sandinista deputies and their allies, by one who voted against and another 13 abstained, out of the 92 legislators that make up the Parliament.

In a report, the Ministry of Government argued that these 15 NGOs failed to comply with their legal and statutory obligations by not reporting their financial statements between 2006 and 2020 with their detailed breakdowns.

They also did not present the agreements with their donors on their projects and activities, nor the identity documents of their fund providers, and income support, the good standing of their beneficiaries and their associated organizations, among others, according to the information.

During the debate, the indigenous deputy Brooklyn Rivera defended the organization Acción Médica Cristiana, which, he reasoned, is the only NGO present in the vulnerable areas of the northern Caribbean of Nicaragua, inhabited mainly by indigenous Miskitos, after that region was hit by a hurricane.

“We are complying with the same laws that we approved. That is the reflection that remains,” said, for his part, the head of Parliament, the Sandinista Gustavo Porras.

THE LIST OF NGOS

Among the affected entities is the Mejía Godoy Foundation, of the Mejía Godoy brothers, who recently branded as “totalitarian, neo-Stalinist and neo-Hitlerian regime” the Government presided by the Sandinista Daniel Ortega, after criticizing an executive decree which asks other States or international organizations to request their prior consent if they wish to grant an award or recognition to a citizen of this Central American country.

Other illegalized NGOs are the Nicaraguan Institute for Research and Popular Education, Soya de Nicaragua Association, Christian Medical Action, Matagalpa Women’s Collective Association, Central American Institute for Social Integration Association, and the Center for Governance and Democracy Studies Association.

Also the Federation of Non-Governmental Organizations of Nicaragua, Diakonia Nicaragua Foundation, Entre Volcanes Foundation, Dr. Concepción Palacios Nicaraguan Medical Foundation, Xochiquetzal Foundation, Association Institute for Research and Social Management (Inges), Association of Women of Jalapa against Violence Oyanka, and Federation Nicaraguan Network for Democracy and Local Development.

In Nicaragua, the Executive of Daniel Ortega, with the Sandinista deputies and their allies’ vote, has outlawed at least 49 NGOs since December 2018, the previous 24 NGOs, mostly medical, last July 28.

Last August 15, the Ministry of the Interior canceled the registrations and taxpayer registration numbers of three US and three European NGOs.