2023-08-24 22:59:05
MEXICO CITY (AP) — The Central American Province of the Society of Jesus strongly condemned the Nicaraguan government’s decision to declare the Jesuit congregation illegal and confiscate all its assets, while demanding that President Daniel Ortega “cease the repression.” in that country.
In a statement on Thursday night, released on social networks on Friday, the Central American Jesuits said from their headquarters in San Salvador that the cancellation of the legal status of the Society of Jesus Association in Nicaragua was carried out “without giving an opportunity to the legitimate defense” by the Jesuits.
It was carried out “without there being an impartial judicial instance to judge and stop these totally unjustified and arbitrary abuses of authority,” the report added, after noting that more than 3,000 non-governmental associations have been closed in recent years with similar procedures.
In its statement, the Central American Province of the Society of Jesus asked Ortega and Vice President Rosario Murillo to “cease the repression” and to agree to seek “a rational solution” to the crisis in Nicaragua, “in which the truth prevails, justice, dialogue, respect for human rights (and) the rule of law”.
He also demanded respect for “the freedom and total integrity of the Jesuits and the people who collaborate with them.”
The Central American Province of the Society of Jesus stressed that the national context of systematic repression was described as “crimes against humanity” by the United Nations group of experts on Human Rights. And he stressed that it is directed “to the full establishment of a totalitarian regime” in Nicaragua.
The cancellation of the Society of Jesus in Nicaragua was announced just days after the closure and confiscation of the Central American University (UCA), the most prestigious in the country, whose movable and immovable assets were also confiscated. The government accused the university of being a “center of terrorism”, referring to student protests that broke out in April 2018.
The UCA was one of the centers of the social revolt that year, which the Ortega government classified as “a failed coup d’état.” According to student leaders, the closure of the Jesuit university is “retaliation” and “revenge” for these events.
The measures against the Jesuits in Nicaragua take place amid a tense relationship between the Ortega government and the Catholic Church, one of whose bishops – Monsignor Rolando Álvarez – is serving a sentence of more than 26 years in prison after being accused of “conspiracy “, a charge imputed to hundreds of opponents “political prisoners”.
The closure of the UCA, which affected more than 5,000 students, led to a protest by the Jesuit authorities in Latin America and has been harshly criticized by the governments of the United States, Colombia and Chile.
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