The Government of Nicaragua, through the Ministry of the Interior (Migob), canceled this Tuesday, March 7, two other Nicaraguan private universities, bringing the total to 19 outlawed since December 2021, including seven of foreign origin, and ordered the confiscation of their assets furniture and real estate.
The new study centers canceled are the Juan Pablo II University and the Autonomous Christian University of Nicaragua (UCAN), both registered as associations, according to an agreement of the Ministry of the Interior, published in the Official Gazette, La Gaceta.
According to the agreement of the Ministry of the Interior, which is in charge of the control and registration of NGOs, the associations of both universities failed to comply with the laws that regulate them.
Among others, he mentioned that they are not accredited in the quality indicators, that they did not report their financial statements and their boards of directors, and they did not present clarifications about the patrimony, fixed assets, income, expenses, execution of funds, or increases and decreases in accounts without justify.
The Juan Pablo II University, registered since August 26, 2004, has its headquarters in Managua and branches in Chontales (center), Matagalpa (north) and Granada (southwest).
According to the university’s website, the higher education center “is an institution of the Episcopal Conference of Nicaragua (CEN), authorized as a Higher Education Center by the National Council of Universities (CNU) on August 29, 2002. ”.
Meanwhile, UCAN, registered since June 17, 2002, has its headquarters in León (northwest) and branches in Chinandega (also northwest), Estelí and Matagalpa (north), Chontales (center) and Masaya (southwest).
CNU and the Attorney General’s Office, accomplices of dispossession
The Migob ordered the authorities of the two canceled centers to deliver in an expeditious and orderly manner to the National Council of Universities (CNU) the information on students, teachers, careers, study plans, enrollment databases and grades or academic record.
Likewise, he informed that the CNU will proceed to relocate the students currently enrolled in Nicaraguan territory in universities that are accredited in the country.
In addition, it ordered the Attorney General’s Office to transfer the movable and immovable property of the affected study centers to the name of the State of Nicaragua.
The National Assembly (Parliament), with a Sandinista majority and at the request of the Executive, has outlawed 14 higher education centers at the request of the Executive since December 2021. The other five study centers have been dissolved by the Interior.
The rector of one of the canceled universities, Adrián Meza, has denounced from exile that the Ministry of the Interior has refused to receive the financial statements of higher education centers.
In February of last year, Parliament created three new higher education centers with the documents and infrastructure seized from six illegalized private universities, including the Polytechnic University of Nicaragua (Upoli), which was a stronghold of anti-government protests between April and June. of 2018.