Ortega dissolves Jesuit order and confiscates its assets

2023-08-25 15:05:43

The government of Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua continues to escalate authoritarianism against the country’s Catholic Christians. Now, the dictatorship decided to dissolve the Jesuit order and also confiscate its assets.

As GospelMais has been reporting, this is just one of several actions that the dictatorship has taken against Catholic leaders and organizations. This is because the government claims that the religious are part of an “anti-democratic” movement.

The Ortega dictatorship also claims that the Jesuits (Companhia de Jesus) would not have submitted the financial statements for 2020, 2021 and 2022. The institution, in turn, repudiated its dissolution in Nicaragua, as well as the confiscation of its assets.

One of the assets confiscated by Ortega was the Universidad Centro-americana (UCA), which had been administered by the Jesuits for more than half a century. Now, the unit will be called National University Casimiro Sotelo Montenegro, according to information from BBC.

recurrent attacks

According to the Association of Universities Entrusted to the Society of Jesus in Latin America (AUSJAL), the dictatorship’s attacks against Jesuit institutions have been taking place for years. The current attacks only confirm the progression of authoritarianism in the country.

“The denunciation of events classified as crimes against humanity to the Group of Experts on Human Rights of Nicaragua, of the United Nations, made [a universidade] victim of multiple attacks since 2018,” says AUSJAL.

According to the organization, the persecution that Ortega has carried out against Catholic leaders and organizations is a revenge reaction against the position of the Church in favor of Human Rights.

In 2018, during popular demonstrations calling for freedom in the country, resulting in the murder of hundreds of demonstrators by the regime, churches opened their doors to welcome the persecuted, which aroused the fury of the government.

“The de facto confiscation of UCA assets is a retaliation for the work that this institution has carried out in the search for a more just society, as well as its commitment to protect the life, truth and freedom of the Nicaraguan people,” concludes AUSJAL , in note.