The dictatorship of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo in Nicaragua froze the bank accounts and assets of the Central American University (UCA), property of the Society of Jesus, an action that has been condemned by a bishop and multiple social organizations.
“As a former student of the Central American University of Managua, I repudiate the aggression of the dictatorship against this study center,” said the Auxiliary Bishop of Managua (Nicaragua), Msgr. Silvio Báez, on 10 August, from his personal account on the network Social X.
The Prelate, exiled to the United States in April 2019 due to the persecution of the dictatorship, stated that “the freezing of accounts is an outrage against higher education, intellectual freedom, culture and all of society.”
This Friday, August 11, sources linked to the House of Studies indicated to the Nicaraguan newspaper El Confidencial that the regime has ordered the immobilization of their properties in public records.
This action is added to what happened two days before, on Wednesday, August 9, when it emerged that the Ortega government had frozen the UCA bank accounts, according to various local sources.
So far, the authorities of that educational institution have not issued an official statement.
In this regard, El Confidencial revealed on 10 August an email sent by the UCA to the university community, in which it states that it is going through “adverse situations” and at the same time working to solve the problems that prevent them from carrying out banking operations.
Regarding the immobilization of his assets, the Nicaraguan media outlet Divergentes reported on Thursday that this action was not notified to the UCA and that it would have stemmed from a request from the Attorney General’s Office (PGR), the body in charge of representing state law.
The source of this medium, close to the House of Studies, reported that the Jesuit authorities “realized that all their real estate had been immobilized when they were going to carry out property movements.” He also hinted that in the near future, the UCA could be confiscated in its entirety.
There is currently no information on possible police investigations to support the decision to freeze the university’s bank accounts and block its assets.