Nicaragua Outlaws 1.5K NGOs
Nicaragua Outlaws 1.5K Non-Governmental OrganizationsNGOs
The Facts
On Monday, Nicaragua's government banned 1.5K non-governmental organizations for "not fulfilling their obligations" in reporting their finances.On Monday, Nicaragua's government banned 1.5K non-governmental organizations for allegedly "not fulfilling their obligations" in reporting their finances.
These obligations include submitting their income and expense statements per fiscal period and disclosing their donations and details about their boards of directors.These obligations include submitting their income and expense statements per fiscal period and disclosing their donations as well as boards of directors' details.
The Spin
This is part of Nicaragua's autocratic government's effort to suppress people who draw the world's attention to human rights abuses in the Central American country. Ortega has engaged in increasingly repressive actions — including using terrorism and money laundering laws to crackdowncrack down on nonprofit organizations — against journalists, intellectuals, and activists to quell dissent. He must be held accountable for the persecution of all forms of opposition, whether political or religious.
The Nicaraguan government is committed to ensuring that NGOs follow state laws and contribute to the country's development in an orderly manner. Those outlawed are US-backed agents of evil who carry out spiritual terrorism, obstructing the interior ministry's oversight. A crackdown against civil society organizations — which receive money from foreign countries to destabilize the country — is necessary to safeguard Nicaragua's sovereignty from neofascist and neocolonial governments.