Nicaragua outlaws three other European NGOs and one US

Managua, 17 Mar The Government of Nicaragua, through the Ministry of the Interior, banned three European NGOs and one American NGO on Thursday for not registering as foreign agents in the Central American country. The cancellation of these four foreign non-governmental organizations (NGOs) occurs on the same day that the National Assembly (Parliament), with the majority government and at the request of Daniel Ortega's Executive, outlawed 25 Nicaraguan NGOs, including an association of journalists, an environmentalist, and other women's advocates, of the indigenous and human rights issues. Through a ministerial agreement, the Government portfolio canceled the records and perpetual issues of the American Green Clinic, which had been registered since May 2008; and the Belgian Development Cooperation Fund, registered since November 1999. Also the Catholic Agency for International Development, originally from the United Kingdom, registered since October 2006; and the German International Christian Service for Peace, registered since November 2002. DID NOT REGISTER AS FOREIGN AGENTS These four NGOs “breached their obligations under the relevant laws governing non-profit organizations, in Nicaraguan territory, by not registering as foreign agents, being obligated subjects of the Law on the Regulation of Foreign Agents,” explained the Ministry of the Interior in an agreement published in the newspaper Officer La Gaceta. In addition, they did not report their financial statements with detailed breakdowns, nor their boards of directors, nor the identity of their funders, nor previous donations from abroad, for more than four years, he continued. This portfolio assured that “the actions of the four NGOs hindered the control and surveillance of the Department of Registration and Control of Associations of the Ministry of the Interior, since the regulatory body could not identify the agency's legal representatives, managers, domicile and administration of funds”. With the cancellation of the records and perpetual numbers of these four foreign organizations, there are 16 international NGOs (nine European and seven American) that have been canceled in the context of the socio-political crisis that Nicaragua is experiencing since April 2018. The Executive, through the Ministry of the Interior, has also temporarily closed the club of Spanish citizens residing in Nicaragua, Casa España. ORTEGA HAS ELIMINATED 156 NGOS A study called “The Brutal Demolition of Freedom of Association in Nicaragua”, prepared by local Fundación del Río and Popol Na, which were also outlawed, indicated that as of February 21 at least 115 Nicaraguan NGOs had been canceled or “de facto raided” since Ortega returned to power in 2007, 87 of them in the last three years, to which we must add today's 25 and 16 foreign ones. Among the organizations that have been affected are NGOs that defend human rights, medical, feminist, educational, universities and thought centers, among others. Nicaragua has been going through a political and social crisis since April 2018, which has been accentuated after the controversial general elections on November 7, in which Ortega was re-elected for a fifth term, fourth in a row and second with his wife, Rosario Murillo, as vice president, with his main contenders in prison. CHIEF lfp/av/rrt