Ortega expels Catalan Fund for Development Cooperation

The Catalan Fund for Development Cooperation denounced on Wednesday that the Ortega regime has “de facto” expelled it from Nicaragua, where it had its regional office and 20 active projects.

The Government of Nicaragua, through the Ministry of the Interior, cancelled the registration of the regional office of the Fons Catala de Cooperacio al Desenvolupament in Managua, which had been in effect since 2002, reported the Official Newspaper La Gaceta.

“In an irreversible manner and with implausible arguments, the Fons Catala is told to proceed with the liquidation of its goods and assets, which means a de facto expulsion from Nicaragua and the closure of our municipal cooperation in this country,” the organization noted in a statement.

The entity that works with municipalities had moved its regional office for Central America to Costa Rica in June, after 26 years of work in Nicaragua, where it had 20 active projects that are now at risk.

The Catalan Fund explained that they decided to move their regional headquarters to Costa Rica, after “the approval of restrictive laws” in Nicaragua that put at risk development aid for both the work of local NGOs and international cooperation.

“Precisely in June, after communicating the decision of this transfer to the Government of Nicaragua, clarifying that the process did not imply in any case the closure of projects in this country, the representative of Fons Catala (Xavier Ruiz) received an official call ordering him to leave the country within 72 hours,” the organization said.

Since then, the office in Managua was left “without representation and without any possibility to make a proper and orderly closure,” it added.

Cooperation with municipalities at risk

“The expulsion of its representative and the cancellation of the legal registration of the entity makes it impossible to directly follow up on some twenty active projects in Nicaragua, many of them the result of twinning with municipalities in Catalonia,” it warned.

“The situation could jeopardize the very existence of municipal cooperation in Nicaragua, an action completely beyond our control,” it added.

Likewise, the organization indicated that “the authoritarian drift taken by the Nicaraguan regime meant Fons Catala had to leave its office without being able to make the necessary arrangements for an orderly relocation of its regional headquarters.”

In its resolution, Nicaragua’s Interior Ministry argued that it cancelled the registration and permanent number assigned to the Catalan Fund because “it failed to comply with its obligations by not promoting policies of transparency, integrity and public trust in the administration and management of all its financial operations” and for hindering “the control and supervision” of the State.

In addition, it gave it 72 hours, starting on Tuesday, to deliver to the Interior Ministry all the documents related to the liquidation of the goods and assets, as well as accounting records.

Commitment with Nicaragua

The Catalan Fund stressed that they have “forged a bond with the people of Nicaragua since 1996, which will not disappear with this expulsion order.”

“The commitment with Nicaragua is still alive and from now on, all the necessary steps will be taken to be able to continue working with Nicaraguan society from abroad,” it stated.

“From Fons Catala we will continue cooperating in different parts of the world, despite the difficulties,” said the organization, which “deeply regretted these events” after 26 years of stable presence in Nicaragua.

This article was originally published in Spanish in Confidencial and translated by Havana Times