Nicaragua: Daniel Ortega’s regime dissolved the Jesuit Order and confiscated its assets

Nicaragua announced, on Wednesday, the abolition of the legal personality of the Jesuits and the confiscation of all their assets in the country. inside the frame Within a series of actions taken by the system Daniel Ortega as an attempt by the government to “strangle” the Catholic Church in that nation.

The decision has been communicated by the government through Ministry of InteriorIt was said that the Jesuit Society had not submitted its financial statements for the past three years and that its board of directors had “expired” since March 2020, which is what It means violations of the law and a lack of transparency in its operations. In addition, I directed the prosecution Transfer of all movable and immovable property Jesuits on behalf of the state.

For its part, the Central American province of the Jesuit Order, which represents the Jesuits in the region, He said the order issued in Nicaragua gave no opportunity for “legitimate defence”. And that there is no impartial authority to stop what he called “the unjustified and arbitrary abuses of power.”

“This new aggression is framed in a national context of systematic oppressionHe defended himself in a statement. “He asserts that all this aims at the complete establishment of the totalitarian regimeHe confirmed.

The new coup against the Jesuits by Sandinista Ortega’s government, in power since 2007, follows the seizure in mid-August of the assets of UCA, the country’s Jesuit university, including facilities and bank accounts, alleging that the institution has served as a “center for terrorism”. “.

The University of Central Asia was the main private institution of higher education in Nicaragua and the alma mater of many of the young leaders who led protests against the government in 2018 that left more than 300 people dead, according to human rights organizations.

The United States has condemned the seizure of UCA assets as “continued suppression of religious figures and institutions” by the Nicaraguan government, saying it represents a further erosion of democratic norms in the Central American country.

In addition, the General Superior of the Jesuits of the World, priest Arturo Sosa, said that The closure of the university was part of a government attempt to “strangle” the Catholic Church And to civil institutions in the Central American country.

Ortega’s government, whose 2021 re-election to a fourth consecutive term in power was met with international condemnation as an attack on democracy, turned its sights on the Jesuits after they criticized the way the president suppressed the protest. 2018.

Since then, the president has launched a campaign against the religious, which intensified this year despite mediation between the protest leaders and his administration.

So far, the government has held four priests and Bishop Rolando Alvarez, a vocal critic of Ortega and one of the most influential religious members of Nicaragua’s Catholic Church, in prison.

With information from Reuters

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