2023-04-22 13:00:00
The dictatorship of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo robbed and expressly distributed the monastery of the Trappist sisters, located in San Pedro de Lóvago, Chontales, without a resolution from the Ministry of the Interior (Migob) or a decree from the National Assembly, to cancel the legal status of the nuns and order the confiscation of their assets, as has happened with other NGOs and annulled associations.
The de facto confiscation was executed on March 3, eight days after the nuns left Nicaragua, and three days after they began a “voluntary dissolution” process before Migob. However, so far, that ministry has not published any resolution on the case, confirmed CONFIDENTIAL when reviewing the 32 editions of La Gaceta —Official Gazette—, published between March 1 and April 21, 2023.
Despite the absence of a Migob ruling, the dictatorship has already inaugurated in the monastery —where there is also a convent— a Technology Development Center “Compañero Cornelio Silva”, administered by the Nicaraguan Institute of Agricultural Technology (INTA).
The Trappist sisters reported that, on March 3, government authorities verbally notified the Bishop of Juigalpa, Monsignor Marcial Guzmán Saballos, that they could no longer go to the monastery and convent because the property now belonged to INTA. The religious was in charge of the real estate of the nuns.
The Trappist nuns left Nicaragua after 22 years of presence in the country, as reported they left due to “lack of vocations, old age of several sisters”, but they assured that they will continue their pastoral mission from Panama.
On February 28, the nuns shared photos and videos of the monastery on their Facebook page, proving that, until then, it had been under the protection of the Diocese of Juigalpa. “All is calm. The monastery is as we left it in the hands of the Diocese,” they wrote.
Voluntary dissolutions do not establish forfeiture
Law 1115 or General Regulation and Control of Non-Profit Organizations establishes that, in the case of voluntary dissolutions, organizations must report on the destination of their assets. This should be delivered to an organization that has similar objectives. It cannot be distributed among the members of the organization.
Therefore, if it is an educational, health or religious organization, its facilities would have to be turned over (donated or sold) to another institution with that focus —as was the case with the Trappist nuns. In the event that the agency does not detail the destination of its assets, then they will pass to the name of the State.
On the other hand, when it comes to unilateral cancellations of legal status by the Executive or Legislative, due to an alleged breach of Law 1115, the organizations do not decide the destination of their assets. In accordance with the legislation, these pass to the name of the State of Nicaragua.
Lawyer Martha Patricia Molina points out that “all processes related to property in Nicaragua are confiscations. The State is usurping the private property of institutions and people and it does this by the punitive power that protects and protects it”.
Article 44 of the Nicaraguan Constitution strictly prohibits confiscations: “The confiscation of assets is prohibited” and it often reads that: “officials who violate this provision will respond with their assets at all times for the damages caused.”
The expulsion of Ortega nuns
The Trappist nuns belong to the Catholic monastic Order OCSO, by its Latin name (Ordo Cisterciensis Strictioris Observantiae), under the rule of Saint Benedict, and had the monastery of Santa María de la Paz, in San Pedro de Lóvago. From Hinojo, Argentina, the Trappist sisters arrived in Nicaragua on January 20, 2001.
The Trappist nuns were the second group of religious to leave Nicaragua. Eighteen nuns of the Missionaries of Charity orderfounded by Mother Teresa of Calcutta, were expelled from Nicaragua in July of last year, after the National Assembly, under the control of Ortega, and at the request of the Executive, canceled their legal status.
On April 12, the dictatorship ordered the expulsion of three nuns of the congregation of the Dominican Sisters of the Anunciata, who ran the López Carazo nursing home and the Susana López Carazo school, in the city of Rivas
The properties of the Missionaries of Charity were also confiscated by the Migob. Weeks after her departure, the dictatorship announced that it would install a Child Development Center (CDI) in the nursing home managed by the sisters, in Granada.
The report of CONFIDENTIAL, “Confiscated Nicaragua: The New Wave of Property Theft” revealed that the dictatorship has illegally confiscated more than 150 private properties, including 87 NGO properties canceled on orders from Ortega and Murillo. These properties were handed over to state institutions and ministries.
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