On Tuesday, Nicaragua canceled the legal status of 15 more NGOs, including a foundation of the now-defunct Guardabarranco duo, which was part of the new song movement linked to the left in the 1980s.
Nine organizations were canceled for “non-compliance” in reporting their finances, and their assets will be transferred to the State, while six others were canceled due to “voluntary dissolution of members,” according to two resolutions published in the official newspaper La Gaceta.
A resolution from the Ministry of the Interior closed nine organizations that “did not report their Financial Statements for periods ranging from 5 to 20 years, according to fiscal periods, with detailed breakdowns of income and expenses, trial balance, detail of donations (origin, provenance, and final beneficiary), and Boards of Directors.”
These NGOs were “in breach of their obligations, in accordance with the Laws that regulate them, and hindering the control and surveillance of the General Directorate of Registration and Control of Non-Profit Organizations,” said the publication.
The Guardabarranco Duo Foundation, registered in 2011, did not submit its financial statements between 2017 and 2023, according to the publication. The Guardabarranco duo was composed of the siblings Salvador, who passed away in 2010, and Katia Cardenal, who resides in Norway.
Nicaragua tightened its laws after protests against the government of President Daniel Ortega in 2018, which in three months of road blockades and clashes between opponents and supporters left more than 300 dead, according to the UN. The Ortega government, which considered the protests an attempted coup promoted by Washington, claimed that some NGOs financed them.
Among the canceled organizations are the Association of Owners of Small Hotels of Nicaragua, as well as the Association of Livestock Farmers of El Rama, in the Caribbean region, and seven evangelical organizations.
The movable and immovable assets of these nine associations will be transferred to the State, according to the legislation regulating non-profit organizations, said the Ministry of the Interior.
The closure of the associations also occurs within a tightened legal framework for NGOs in Nicaragua, where the government of President Daniel Ortega has shut down some 3,600 since 2018.
The Ministry of the Interior also approved the closure of six other organizations at the request of their members, due to lack of funds, according to another publication in La Gaceta.
