Latin America | July 08, 2022
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As reported by Reuters on 30 June 2022, the Missionaries of Charity established by Mother Teresa has been expelled from the country after serving poor communities for over 34 years. The government claims that this association – along with 100 other civic organizations and charities – had “failed to comply with obligations established by national legislation”.
According to Vida Nueva Digital reporting on 30 June 2022, the government’s telecommunications regulator, TELCOR, has ordered two further Catholic TV channels to be taken off the air. One is TV Merced, from the dioceses of Matagalpa and Jinotega, which first went on air eight years ago, and the other is TV San José, from the diocese of Estelí, which started up 12 years ago. The latter is run by Monsignor Juan Abelardo Mata, who has been continually targeted by the regime for his opposition stance. Already on 20 May 2022, Channel 51, owned by the Episcopal Conference of Nicaragua, had been taken off the air.
World Watch Research analyst Rossana Ramirez comments: “The Ortega government’s hostility towards the church shows no signs of easing. In its eagerness to stay in power at all costs, the ruling Sandinista party is trying to control all messaging and activities in society. This why the government is preventing non-state actors from operating freely in the country and has ordered the closure of a total of 858 NGOs since 2018. The recent closures are supposedly due to violations of ‘Law 977’ which is concerned with preventing money laundering and the financing of terrorist activities or weapons of mass destruction.”
Rossana Ramirez adds: “As reported by VOA News on 19 June 2022, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, has given a highly critical report on the state of affairs in Nicaragua. She has openly blamed the Ortega government for the instability and repression which is spurring unprecedented numbers of people to flee to other countries. In the last eight months alone, the number of Nicaraguans fleeing to Costa Rica has reached 150,000.”
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