Nicaraguan regime plans to ban dozens of NGOs and expropriate all their property

The Nicaraguan regime requested the cancellation of the legal personality of 24 non-governmental organizations (NGOs), mostly medical associations critical of the official treatment of the covid-19 pandemic, as reported this Sunday a legislative source.

The government’s proposal was taken up by Sandinista lawmaker Filiberto Rodríguez, who presented to the National Assembly, controlled by the ruling party, an initiative decree to annul the legal personality of the 24 NGOs.

The proposal by Rodríguez, vice-president of the Commission for Peace, Defense, Governance and Human Rights, establishes that the property and assets belonging to these entities will have, after liquidation, the destination provided for in the deed constitutive or in their statutes. “If nothing had been arranged on this, these will become the property of the state”, according to the initiative.

ROSARIO MURILLO HAD ANNOUNCED IT

Among the banned NGOs are 15 medical associations, among which the Nicaraguan Medical Association (AMN), which is made up of 30 trade union organizations and has expressed its criticism of the government of Daniel Ortega for the alleged inadequate management of the pandemic in Nicaragua.

On March 18, the AMN called on the Executive to vaccinate all workers in the health sector, public and private, “immediately” against covid-19.

On July 7, Nicaraguan Vice-President Rosario Murillo accused doctors who criticized the management of her husband, President Daniel Ortega, of being “fake doctors and with false predictions”, along with official statistics from people affected.

Last Thursday, Nicaraguan health officials summoned two doctors critical of the handling of the pandemic, who warned them they would violate the controversial special cybercrime law if they did not follow official information.

The special law on cybercrime, promoted by the Sandinistas and in force since December 30, 2020, provides for sentences of 1 to 10 years in prison for citizens accused of cybercrime going against “state security” .

The Sandinista crusade against medical NGOs adds to the persecution of all critics of the Ortega regime. Yesterday, in fact, the seventh presidential candidate Noel Vidaurre was imprisoned.

Three months before the elections, besides Vidaurre, the other candidates arrested are: Cristiana Chamorro, Arturo Cruz, Félix Maradiaga, Miguel Moral, Juan Sebastián Chamorro – cousin of Cristiana – and Medardo Mairena.

Vidaurre, 66, was in the running for the candidacy of the Alianza Ciudadanos por la Libertad (CXL-right), one of the groups accredited to the electoral tribunal for the November 7 legislative elections.

Presidential appointments must be registered between July 28 and August 2, and in Nicaragua, if a person is under investigation for crimes or arrest, they cannot run for elected office.

Faced with sanctions and criticism from the international community, Ortega asserts that the detainees are not candidates or opponents but “criminals” who have organized themselves with American funding to carry out a coup d’état. However, the arrests fall under a controversial law passed without debate in Congress.

Head of US diplomacy for Latin America Julie Chung wrote on Twitter: “On the day Nicaraguan voters confirm their registration (on the list), Ortega and Murillo arrest two other political opponents.”

With information from EFE and AFP

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