The legal status of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) and ordered the transfer of all its assets to the State by the dictatorship in Nicaragua. This act occurred in the midst of a growing wave of harassment against the religious Order.
According to ministerial agreement 105-2023-OSFL, published on August 23 in La Gaceta, the regime’s official newspaper, the Minister of the Interior, María Amelia Coronel Kinloch, approved “the cancellation of the legal personality of the Nicaraguan Company of Jesus Association, for breaches of the law.”
Regarding “the destination of the movable and immovable property,” the document indicates that the Attorney General’s Office will carry out the “transfer of these to the name of the State of Nicaragua.”
The dictatorship points out that the Society of Jesus registered in the public records since July 1995, allegedly had not reported “its financial statements [for the] fiscal periods 2020, 2021 and 2022.”
Through a statement, the Nicaraguan University Alliance (AUN) has “roundly” condemned the provision of “the Sandinista dictatorship of Daniel Ortega.” “This action is just another chapter in the Sandinistas’ relentless persecution of the Catholic Church and the faith that nurtures our nation.”
Despite the official confirmation in La Gaceta this Wednesday, the government had already begun to confiscate the property of the religious before.
On August 19, in an unjustified manner, he appropriated the residence of the Jesuits in Villa Carmen, which is located next to the UCA, an institution that was also subject to confiscation four days earlier.
“UCA, once a bastion of academic excellence and freedom, has already been stolen by the Sandinista dictatorship, demonstrating its hostility towards the Jesuits and quality education. Now, with this new offensive, they are endangering thousands of children and young people who benefit from the noble educational work of the Jesuits”, denounces AUN.
It also states that “the Sandinista dictatorship threatens the viability of innumerable works of charity that the Jesuits carry out in the country, impacting the lives of the most vulnerable.”
“We urge the international community and the defenders of human rights and religious freedom to unite in condemnation and action against this outrage by the Sandinista dictatorship,” the message concludes.
Until the publication of this article, the Central American Province of the Society of Jesus has not issued a pronouncement on the revocation of its legal status in Nicaragua.