The Nicaraguan parliament, at the request of the government, declared illegal the Nicaraguan Writers’ Center (CNE) on Wednesday, which had established a late leader of the Sandinista guerrillas, the late priest and poet he became an outspoken critic of President Daniel Ortega.
The CNE, which numbered 120 members, was stripped of its legal status with the approval of 75 of the 91 members of parliament, dominated by Mr Ortega’s faction, said Nicaraguan National Delegation President Gustavo Poras. During the same meeting, the deputies also decided to dissolve another 93 organizations, which were accused of not complying with the law on “foreign agents” which was adopted in 2020.
The law on “foreign agents” provides for exhaustive financial controls and restrictions on the civil and political rights of any person, natural or legal, financed by foreign states.
Ernesto Cardinal (1925-2020) founded the CNE in 1990. Notable among its members was Sergio Ramirez, a former vice president of Mr Ortega, who was exiled to Spain last year amid a wave of arrests in the months leading up to the presidential election. of November. Mr Ortega was re-elected to the presidency for a fourth term in the process, in the absence of any politically motivated opponents, as all potential candidates were either jailed or exiled.
Ernesto Cardenal, who had fought against the Somosa dictatorship, criticized the “authoritarianism” of Daniel Ortega, the leader of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN, formerly a rebel organization, now the ruling party).
Some five hundred NGOs, organizations and collectives have been disbanded since the bloody crackdown on protests against the government of Daniel Ortega in 2018. At least 355 people were killed, thousands arrested and detained .
For the government, those demonstrations were an attempt at a US-backed coup.
