Religious groups affected by another mass cancellation of civil society organisations

Scores of Protestant churches, the Nicaraguan Evangelical Alliance, and the Latino-Islamic Cultural Association, were among 169 civil society organisations whose legal status was cancelled by the Nicaraguan government in an announcement on 29 August 2024.

The Ministry of the Interior (MINT) published a list of the cancelled organisations, 92 of which are religious in nature, in the Official Daily Gazette. The latest move by the government, led by President Daniel Ortega and his wife and vice-president Rosario Murillo, follows the cancellation of the legal status of 1,651 civil society organisations earlier this month, and brings the total number of organisations that have arbitrarily lost their legal status since 2018 to 5,552.

The Latino-Islamic Cultural Association has been legally recognised in Nicaragua since 12 May 2020 and maintained a mosque in Managua where the Muslim community in the capital regularly gathered.

Among the organisations that had their legal status cancelled were two of the most historic Protestant denominations in the country: the Episcopal Church of Nicaragua, which belongs to the Global Anglican Communion, and which has had a presence in the region since 1612, and the Moravian Church of Nicaragua, which was established in Nicaragua in 1847. Churches affiliated with both denominations were affected by the cancellation, including Episcopal and Moravian churches in Bluefields in the South Caribbean Autonomous Region. Both churches led long running educational efforts in the majority indigenous and Afro-descendent populated region and operated schools in the area.

A third historic church in the capital, the First Baptist Church of Managua, founded in 1917, and which operated schools, a seminary, a hospital, and a radio station, also saw its legal status cancelled.

Other affected churches include the Shalom First Presbyterian Church of Nicaragua, established in 2016, the Gospel Eternal Message of the Three Angels Adventist Church, founded in 2014, and the Christian Reformed Church of Nicaragua, which was established in the country in 1972.

The government has also announced that all property associated with the cancelled organisations, including buildings, land and furniture, will be transferred to the government. In the past, these properties have been ‘donated’ to the Nicaraguan Army and the Nicaraguan Social Security Institute.

CSW’s Head of Advocacy Anna Lee Stangl said: ‘Once again CSW strongly condemns the Nicaraguan government’s arbitrary cancellation of the legal status of another 169 independent civil society organisations. We call on the international community to do the same. The arbitrary cancellation of historic and diverse religious associations is, in many cases, leaving their members with nowhere to gather for religious purposes, but they are not the only people who will be affected. We are also highly concerned about the impact on the thousands of children and adults who interacted with the schools, and other institutions, like hospitals, run by these organisations. Many of the affected associations form a key part of the social fabric and culture of their locales. We continue to stand in solidarity with those who have dedicated their lives to the improvement of their communities only to see it all arbitrarily taken away by a totalitarian government interested only in its own survival.’