The Nicaraguan dictatorship cancelled the legal status of 15 non-profit organisations, the first of which it took this decision in 2025. This follows the closure of more than 5,400 NGOs by the regimes of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo in 2018.
On 8 January, the official newspaper La Gaceta reported the “voluntary dissolution” of 11 organizations, including Save the Children and the Dominican Nuns Foundation of Nicaragua.
According to its website , Save the Children has been working in Nicaragua since 1986, “although we supported Nicaraguan girls, boys and adolescents after the 1972 earthquake in Managua.”
“Save the Children’s work in Nicaragua focuses on four programmatic areas: Education, Health and Nutrition, Child Rights Governance and Child Protection; in addition to having the capacity to respond to possible humanitarian situations,” he added, specifying that there are 46 people from the organization working in Managua and Matagalpa.
Other 11 organizations that were cancelled due to “voluntary dissolution” include the Ebenezer Christian Missionary Foundation, the Fundamental Baptist Church Association of Matagalpa, and the Help for Nicaragua Foundation.
The other four organizations canceled “for failing to comply with their obligations” are: the Nicaraguan House of Spirituality, Culture, History, Anthropology, Archaeology and Art Foundation (CECHAN), the Association for Comprehensive Services for Women (Sí Mujer), the Pentecost Ministry Foundation Cristo viene and the Río Prinzapolka Foundation.
The decision to cancel the 15 organizations was announced through two ministerial agreements approved by the Minister of the Interior, María Amelia Coronel Kinloch.