The Nicaraguan Red Cross will now be controlled by the government of Daniel Ortega

After the Nicaraguan ruling party accused members of the Red Cross of promote participation during the 2018 protests, the National Assembly agreed to cancel the international organization’s legal status immediately.

Now, both assets and shares and assets of the Red Cross will become state property. With this, there are already more than 20 closures of non-profit organizations in Nicaragua during 2023.

The Nicaraguan legislature has passed a law by which eliminates the autonomy of the Red Cross in the Central American country, then their assets and assets will be administered by the government of Daniel Ortega.

The “Law for the repeal of legislative decree n. 357” was urgently approved on Wednesday 10 May by the Assembly dominated by pro-government deputies.

The events of 2018

MPs accused the Red Cross of acting against its principles and violating its guidelines during the 2018 anti-government protests.

“In the acts that took place in 2018 that threatened the peace and stability of the nation, some branches of the Red Cross acted against the principles of humanity, impartiality and neutrality”, said the deputies repealing the legislative decree of 29 October 1958, with which the organization was established in Nicaragua.

The demonstrations, which lasted about four months, edemanded the resignation of Daniel Ortega as president of the country, but was nominated as a coup attempt by the Government, for which a strong police repression was denounced.

Sandinista deputies and their allies have accused the Red Cross of “breaking the laws of the land” after 65 years of constant operation.

The social epidemic has left a balance of at least 355 dead, according to data from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), while some national organizations report 684.

But the deputies have given a solution to “respect the Geneva Conventions of 1949”: the creation of the Nicaraguan Red Cross, which would be a “decentralized body attached to the Ministry of Health”.

Nicaragua is going through a difficult situation

This country suffers youa political and social crisis which became better known after the 2018 protests and the 2021 election, in which Daniel Ortega was re-elected for a fifth term, fourth in a row and second with his wife Rosario Murillo as vice president.

So far this year, the Sandinistas have de-incorporated at least 20 mostly religious NGOs, citing irregularities in their records.

That’s how they add up at least 3,400 closures of non-profit organizations of profit since 2018 in Nicaragua.

It is estimated that, with the cessation of operations of organizations, around 3.4 million people were left without protection on various topics such as health, education, the environment, among others.

With EFE and local media via RFI