Nicaragua shuttered 1,500 NGOs, bringing to more than 5,000 the number of such organisations closed during a crackdown on opponents of President Daniel Ortega.
The government jailed hundreds of critics after protests in 2018 that the UN said led to the deaths of more than 300 people.
Monday’s announcement was the biggest attack on NGOs to date, taking the total number to over 5,100. The charges against the latest batch of organisations, most of which are religious, stem from their failure to declare their income, according to a government notice.
The Ortega government considers the 2018 protests a coup attempt organised by the United States and backed by the religious community. Last week, the administration passed a decree requiring NGOs to work exclusively in “partnership alliances” with state organisations.
The Nicaraguan Red Cross and several Catholic charities are among the NGOs shut down to date. Other targets included rotary and chess clubs, sports associations, associations of small traders, villagers, and pensioners, as well as Catholic radio stations and universities.
At the end of 2023, some 30 clerics were imprisoned and then expelled from the country and sent to the Vatican. Also last year, the government expelled more than 300 politicians, journalists, intellectuals, and activists, accusing them of treason.
Seizure of power
Ortega became Nicaragua’s leader in 1979 after fighting as a guerrilla in the Sandinista movement that overthrew the US-backed Somoza family. He was later elected president of the country in 1985.
Defeated in elections in 1990, he returned to power in 2007 and has since abolished presidential term limits and seized control of all branches of government. His cabinet is under US and European Union sanctions.
One of Nicaragua’s rare allies, Venezuela, passed a law against NGOs last week. Critics argue that it will be used to suppress on dissidents of President Nicolás Maduro, who has claimed re-election victory.
