The new year has seen the Nicaraguan dictatorship cancel the legal personhood of 15 non-profit organizations, adding to the more than 5,400 nongovernmental organizations shut down since 2018 by the regime of President Daniel Ortega and his wife and “co-president,” Rosario Murillo.
The official government newspaper La Gaceta announced on Jan. 8 the “voluntary dissolution” of 11 of these organizations, including Save the Children and the Dominican Nuns Foundation of Nicaragua. According to its website, Save the Children has been working in the Central American country since 1986. “Save the Children’s work in Nicaragua centres on four program areas: education, health and nutrition, child rights governance, and child protection in addition to having the ability to respond to potential humanitarian situations,” the organization indicated, adding that it had 46 people working in Managua and Matagalpa.