“Ortega Regime Cancels Legal Status of 15 More NGOs”, 21 August 2021

...The Interior Ministry has asked the National Assembly to annul the legal non-profit status of another 15 NGOs. This makes a total of 45 national and international NGOs shuttered this month by the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo. The bill entitled “Cancellation Decree for the Legal Status of Civil Non-profit Associations” was presented by Sandinista deputy Filiberto Rodriguez on August 18. According to the decree, these organizations were being dissolved for “holding activities outside the law and acting expressly against the law.” The NGOs were accused of hindering the work of surveillance and control of the Ministry’s Department of Registration and Control of Associations, the government’s official regulating body...Organizations working with women’s empowerment, environmental protection issues and public participation in different spheres have been the most targeted by the Ortega-Murillo regime...The organizations to be stripped of their legal status include: Nicaraguan Institute for Investigation and Popular Education (INIEP); Nicaraguan Soy Association (SOYNICA); Christian Medical Action; Matagalpa Women’s Collective (CMM); Central American Institute for Social Integration (ICIS); Center of Studies for Governability and Democracy (CEGODEM). Also on the list are: Nicaraguan Federation of NGOs (ONG-NICARAGUA), Nicaragua Diakonia Foundation; Foundation Between Volcanoes (FEV); Dr Concepción Palacios Nicaraguan Medical Foundation (FUMEDNIC); Mejia Godoy Foundation; Xochiquetzal Foundation; Institute for Social Investigation and Management (INGES); Oyanka-Jalapa Association of Jalapa Women against Violence (OYANKA) and the Nicaraguan Network or Democracy and Local Development (RED LOCAL)...In its request to close these organizations the Interior Ministry report sent to the National Assembly, indicates that the 15 organizations are “headless” since the term limits of their boards of directors have expired. In addition, the report accuses them of failing to submit “detailed breakdowns” of their financial status for several years...