The Ministry of the Interior (MINT) of Nicaragua continues its campaign to close down NGOs as it cancelled the legal status of 169 further organisations, many of them led by evangelical Christians.

The state accuses them of having “expired” boards of directors and of “not reporting” their financial statements for periods ranging from 1 to 30 years.

The list of organisations includes a large number of religious organisations, among them the Moravian Church of Nicaragua. Farmers, small producers, artists, pensioners and social organisations are also among the victims.

State property

The ministerial agreement, signed by the head of Interior, María Amelia Coronel Kinloch, states that “the disposition of the movable and immovable assets” of the eliminated NGOs “will be the responsibility of the Attorney General's office, which will transfer them to the state of Nicaragua”.

This is the third massive sweep of NGOs carried out in two weeks. In August, the regime cancelled 1,650 NGOs and associations, federations and business chambers.

Over 5,500 NGOs closed since 2018

With the closure of those 169 organisations, the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo has eliminated 5,552 NGOs since the end of 2018, including 164 for “voluntary dissolution”, reported the newspaper El Confidencial.

In 202, this ibncluded 256 evangelical NGOs.

The regime has cancelled over 70% of the 7,227 NGOs that existed in Nicaragua until 2017, according to data from independent organisations.

100 evangelical pastors in prison

Furthermore, John Britton Hancock, a North American missionary wanted by the Nicaraguan regime, is director of Mountain Gateway ministry. In an interview with Latin American news website Evangelico Digital, he denounced that “right now, there are a hundred pastors in prison”.

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights recently rebuked the treatment of pastors in prison by the regime.