{"id":179282,"date":"2025-11-30T04:41:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-30T10:41:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/confidencial.digital\/sin-categoria\/inside-the-ortega-regimes-theft-of-the-church-39-catholic-properties-seized-in-nicaragua\/"},"modified":"2026-01-18T18:35:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-19T00:35:08","slug":"inside-the-ortega-regimes-theft-of-the-church-39-catholic-properties-seized-in-nicaragua","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/confidencial.digital\/en\/nation\/inside-the-ortega-regimes-theft-of-the-church-39-catholic-properties-seized-in-nicaragua\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside the Ortega Regime\u2019s Theft of the Church: 39 Catholic Properties Seized in Nicaragua"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Poor Clare nuns were removed from two of their monasteries in Nicaragua on the night of January 28, 2025. First, they were evicted from the convent located on the Carretera Vieja to Le\u00f3n (the Old Highway to Le\u00f3n), in Managua, and later from the community of Las Grecias, in Chinandega. The nuns were only allowed to leave with a few belongings, although the confiscation had been set in motion weeks earlier. <\/p>\n\n

On January 17, 2025, the self-proclaimed \u201cco-president\u201d Rosario Murillo announced that \u201csoon\u201d they would inaugurate a university center for agricultural and agro-export technologies, which would be an extension of the National Agrarian University (UNA). Eleven days later, the Poor Clares were expelled from their convents, and in less than a month, their former monastery, \u201cSacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary\u201d in Chinandega, was turned into the center Murillo had announced. <\/p>\n\n

39 properties confiscated from the Church<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n

Since February 2022, the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo has confiscated at least 39 properties from the Catholic Church and lay organizations, according to a data analysis conducted by CONFIDENCIAL<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n

The count of confiscated properties corresponds to the assets that could be verified through public records and open sources. The total number of seized properties is even higher. However, the affected congregations prefer not to speak out in order to avoid further reprisals against the Catholic Church, which has endured years of persecution by the regime.<\/a> <\/p>\n\n

Among the confiscated assets are schools and universities founded or administered by the Church, land, farms, and estates, religious residences, pastoral houses, and offices, among other properties.<\/p>\n\n

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religious residences<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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plots of land, farms, or estates<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Catholic schools<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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university campuses<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n

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social projects<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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pastoral centers<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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office<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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radio station<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n

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Among the confiscated properties that could be verified, the same pattern of theft and usurpation was confirmed: the regime seizes the assets and then rebrands them as supposed \u201cnew\u201d public works in an attempt to legitimize the theft.<\/p>\n\n

The confiscations are carried out after the legal status of the religious congregations or foundations is canceled. The regime accuses them of \u201cobstructing the oversight and supervision duties of the Directorate of Registration and Control of Nonprofit Organizations.\u201d However, it omits that in many cases it is the Ministry of the Interior (formerly the Ministry of Governance) that refuses to receive the required documentation. And once the organizations are canceled \u2014 with no right to appeal \u2014 the regime orders their assets to be transferred to the State. <\/p>\n\n

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In other cases, the confiscations are carried out as part of repressive actions, such as the seizures targeting the Dioceses of Matagalpa and Estel\u00ed, led by Bishop Rolando \u00c1lvarez Lagos<\/a>, who was imprisoned, exiled, and stripped of his nationality for being a critical voice against the regime. In those cases, the dictatorship offered no legal justification for taking the properties. It simply occupied them. <\/p>\n\n

The operational pattern confirms that the confiscations are not isolated incidents, but a government policy aimed at dismantling the Catholic Church\u2019s social and educational structure \u2014 a structure that criticizes and challenges the dictatorship.<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n

The most targeted congregations and dioceses<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n

The 39 confiscated properties belonged to nine religious congregations, four dioceses or administrative divisions of the Catholic Church, and five foundations or lay groups.<\/p>\n\n

Of the nine religious congregations affected, the Society of Jesus is the most severely hit. Jesuit priests were stripped of at least nine properties nationwide, including the Central American University (UCA), which had a 63-year history in Nicaragua. The justification: accusing UCA, without evidence, of being a center of terrorism.<\/a> <\/p>\n\n

The Jesuits are the only congregation that has publicly denounced the theft of their properties. In August 2025, Jesuit priest Jos\u00e9 Mar\u00eda Tojeira (R.I.P.), spokesperson for the congregation in Nicaragua, said that \u201cstudies are underway<\/a>\u201d to file a lawsuit against the State before an international court. Father Tojeira estimated the value of the stolen assets at around 60 million dollars. <\/p>\n\n

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\u201cWe conducted an evaluation (\u2026) and the purely material value was around 60 million dollars. But of course, there are other things, like the historical archive, for example, whose value is difficult to calculate.\u201d <\/p><\/div>

Jos\u00e9 Mar\u00eda Tojeira<\/p>

Jesuit priest<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n

<\/div>\n\n

A CONFIDENCIAL<\/strong> estimate, based on sources within the Jesuit congregation and our own calculations, raises the preliminary value of the confiscated assets to 77 million dollars. However, this figure only includes the most recent appraisal of the San Ignacio Loyola campus, the investment used to build the Julio and Adolfo L\u00f3pez de la Fuente Engineering Laboratory, and a plot of land along the Masaya Highway \u2014 just three of the nine confiscated properties \u2014 and does not account for the patrimonial value of collections such as the Institute of History of Nicaragua and Central America (IHNCA) or the Jos\u00e9 Coronel Urtecho Library. <\/p>\n\n

\u201cThe plunder was immense. While the economic damages are, to date, incalculable, the scientific and academic loss is even greater, since the cultural heritage arbitrarily seized from the university is of incalculable value,\u201d a Jesuit source told CONFIDENCIAL<\/strong>. <\/p>\n

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\n In Nicaragua, The Dream They Couldn\u2019t Steal: Former UCA Students Graduate<\/a>\n \"\"\n <\/div>\n <\/div>
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\n In Nicaragua, The Dream They Couldn\u2019t Steal: Former UCA Students<\/a>\n <\/h2>\n <\/header><\/div><\/div><\/article> <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The second most affected group is the Fabretto Foundation, a nonprofit that operated in Nicaragua for more than 60 years,<\/a> inspired by the legacy of the Salesian missionary Rafael Mar\u00eda Fabretto.<\/p>\n\n

The Fabretto Foundation had at least five educational centers and one farm confiscated, though the total value of their assets is unknown, as they declined to provide statements for this report. In this case, after taking over the foundation\u2019s social projects, the regime continues to use the Italian priest\u2019s name. <\/p>\n\n

The third most affected is the Diocese of Matagalpa, led by Bishop Rolando \u00c1lvarez. The diocese lost at least three properties, including the Episcopal Curia, where the bishop and a group of collaborators were besieged by the National Police for two weeks until their arbitrary arrest on August 19, 2022. <\/a>The combined value of these three properties exceeds seven million dollars, according to journalistic estimates from the media outlet Mosaico CSI. <\/p>\n\n

N\u00famero de propiedades confiscadas a cada congregaci\u00f3n y di\u00f3cesis<\/h4>

Las 39 propiedades confiscadas pertenec\u00edan a nueve congregaciones religiosas, cuatro di\u00f3cesis o divisiones administrativas y cinco fundaciones o grupos de laicos.<\/p><\/div>

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\u201cWealth in the Hands of the Poor\u201d<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n

Three days after the confiscation of UCA, the regime quickly set up a \u201cnew\u201d state university, which in reality did not begin operations until five months later. The haste and pageantry \u2014 which included raising the flag of the ruling Sandinista Front \u2014 revealed a clear interest in political revenge. <\/p>\n\n

In Chinandega, the city hall also rushed to inaugurate a \u201cnew\u201d university center, established in the monastery confiscated from the Poor Clare nuns. The pretext was to coincide with the anniversary of Augusto C. Sandino\u2019s death. But three months later, during another party-related commemoration, the recently removed president of the National University Council (CNU), Ramona Rodr\u00edguez, inaugurated the university branch again, as if it were the first time. <\/p>\n\n

At the first \u201cinauguration,\u201d the building was practically intact; only red-and-black flags had been installed, along with some chairs and a platform displaying images of the \u201cco-presidents\u201d Ortega and Murillo. In the second ceremony, they added school chairs, computers, some kitchen equipment, and ornaments. <\/p>\n\n

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Images of the \u201cSacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary\u201d Monastery, confiscated in January 2025 from the Order of Saint Clare, now transformed into the \u201cH\u00e9roes de Chinandega University Center.\u201d \/\/ Photo: CCC <\/em><\/p>\n\n

In a public ceremony during yet another party-related anniversary \u2014 Sandino\u2019s birthday, on May 18, 2024 \u2014 Ortega justified the confiscations.<\/a> \u201cThe important thing,\u201d he said, \u201cis that this ill-gotten wealth (\u2026) is now in the hands of the State, at the disposal of the people, the poor, the farmers, and the youth.\u201d He provided no evidence that the wealth, in his view, was ill-gotten and omitted the fact that he had promised to respect private property when he sought to return to power during the already-distant 2006 election campaign. <\/p>\n\n

The confiscation of social projects also leaves vulnerable groups abandoned, previously served by the Church. Meanwhile, the seizure of schools and universities \u2014 replaced by spaces promoting partisan indoctrination \u2014 aims to impose ideological control over basic education and suppress critical thinking in higher education. <\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n

Twelve of the confiscated properties are located in Managua. Another nine are in the northern part of the country (Matagalpa and Jinotega); six more in the Las Segovias region (Madriz, Estel\u00ed, and Nueva Segovia); four in the western region (Le\u00f3n and Chinandega); four in the southeast (Rivas, Granada, and Carazo); two in Chontales; and two in R\u00edo San Juan. <\/p>\n\n