9 de enero 2025
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The Nicaraguan government has announced the closure of 15 non-profit organizations, including Save The Children, bringing the total number of dissolved organizations to over 5,600 since the onset of the country’s social and political crisis in April 2018.
The government, led by President Daniel Ortega, published the decision in the Official Gazette on Wednesday, January 8, 2025. It cancels the legal status of four organizations due to “non-compliance with their functions” and approves the dissolution of 11 others, including Save The Children, which requested the measure “voluntarily.”
According to the official document, Save The Children, which had operated in Nicaragua since 1981, requested voluntary dissolution on November 19, 2024, citing the “completion of its project portfolio in Nicaragua.”
Among the other 10 organizations that requested dissolution are the Christian Missionary Foundation Ebenezer, the Foundation for Care and Vocational Training for Street Children, and the Los Ángeles Foundation, which stated they lacked funding for their projects, according to the government document.
The four organizations canceled for “non-compliance with their functions” include the Nicaraguan Foundation for Spirituality, Culture, History, Anthropology, Archaeology, and Art (CECHAN); the Integrated Services for Women Association (SI MUJER); the Pentecostal Ministry Foundation Christ Is Coming (M.P.C.NIC.); and the Rio Prinzapolka Foundation.
Confiscation of NGO Properties
With these closures, the total number of NGOs dissolved since the April 2018 protests exceeds 5,600. In most cases, the government has ordered the transfer of their assets to the state.
Nicaragua has been facing a political and social crisis since April 2018, which deepened following the controversial November 2021 elections. In these elections, Ortega reelected himself for a fifth term—his fourth consecutive one—amid allegations of electoral manipulation. His main political opponents were imprisoned months before the election, later expelled from the country, stripped of their nationality, and deprived of their political rights after being accused of “coup plotting” and “treason.”
Various countries and international organizations have accused the Nicaraguan government of serious human rights violations during this crisis, which has also included the closure of media outlets and academic institutions.
This article was first published in Spanish by Confidencial and translated and posted in English by Havana Times. To get the most relevant news from our English coverage delivered straight to your inbox, subscribe to The Dispatch.
