Nicaragua has been going through a political, economic and social crisis since April 2018, which has worsened following the controversial general elections on November 7, in which Ortega was re-elected for a fifth term, fourth consecutive and second along with his wife, Rosario Murillo, as vice president, with his main contenders in prison.
The National Assembly (Parliament) of Nicaragua, controlled by the Sandinistas, canceled this Tuesday the legal personality of the Nicaraguan Academy of Language, what was ordered by the government of the president Daniel Ortega.
The dissolution of Nicaraguan Academy of Language, created on August 8, 1928, was approved urgently by the 75 Sandinista deputies and their allies. The other 16 legislators, of the 91 that make up Parliament, they abstained.
Among the Nicaraguan academic members of the Academy are the former vice president and writer Sergio Ramírez, exiled in Spain since last year. They are also joined by the poet and writer Gioconda Belli, also exiled.
Also Carlos Tünnermann, who was Nicaraguan ambassador to the United States and Minister of Education during the first Sandinista regime (1979-1990).
Other members are the intellectuals Jorge Eduardo Arellano, Roger Matus Lazo, Carlos German Ocampo, Rosario Fiallos Oyanguren and Pedro Xavier Solis, who directs it, among others.
Nicaraguan academies condemn the closure
Solís said that the Academy, whose offices are located in the headquarters of the Cultural Center of Spain in Nicaragua, Managua, will issue a statement.
The Academy of Nicaragua reported that it was “working on the revision, amendments and contributions to the new grammar of the Spanish language”.
He also highlighted that throughout his almost 94 years “has ensured the culture, education and development of the common language of the Hispanic peoples.”
The announced closure of the Academy of Nicaragua has been condemned by the Royal Academy of the Spanish Language (RAE), and the Academies of the Language of Chile, Ecuador and Mexico.
The Executive of President Ortega, through the Ministry of the Interior, ordered the closure of 83 local NGOs.
was included the Nicaraguan Academy of Language and the Enrique Bolaños Foundation, which has one of the most complete virtual libraries in the country.
According to the Ministry of the Interior, these NGOs failed to comply with the laws on the matter, including not registering in the registry of “foreign agents”.
Also the NGO that created the virtual library
In the case of the Foundation of the late former president Enrique Bolaños (2002-2007), also outlawed, it is the creator of the virtual library (www.enriquebolanos.org).
Its objective “is to collect, preserve and disseminate political, cultural, legal and historically relevant information for Nicaraguans,” according to its website.
Another NGO canceled is the Association for the Promotion of Drinking Water Committees (Red CAPS), which takes the liquid to remote places.
Also the Nora Astorga Women’s Association, which bears the name of the former deputy foreign minister and Nicaraguan ambassador to the UN during the first Sandinista government.
With the new 83 dissolved associations, the number of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) outlawed since December 2018 rises to 319.
Sandinista deputy Filiberto Rodríguez, promoter of the initiative, said that the NGOs used resources from the donations they received. This, to try to overthrow Ortega during the protests that broke out in April 2018, although he has not presented evidence.
In April 2018, thousands of Nicaraguans took to the streets to protest once morest controversial social security reforms, which later turned into a demand for Ortega to resign because he responded with force.
The protests, described by the Executive as a coup attempt, left at least 355 dead, according to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), although local organizations raise the figure to 684 and the Government recognizes 200.
