Jesuits ask the Nicaraguan dictatorship to end repression

The Central American Province of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) asked the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega and his wife and vice president, Rosario Murillo, to end the repression in Nicaragua, one year after the expropriation of the Central American University (UCA) by part of the regime.

In a statement Published on August 15, the Jesuits recalled “the unpunished and unjustified confiscation” of the university, “its research centers, libraries, historical collections of documents, catalogs of natural resources, properties and financial resources.”

“All of this has been an invaluable damage to the scientific and cultural heritage of Nicaragua and continues to be a serious violation of the right to education of thousands of young people who were studying at the UCA or intended to do so,” the statement added.

The Jesuits’ text recalls that “this aggression is framed in a national context of systematic repression, which unfortunately continues to this day against any person or institution that is suspected of not agreeing with the regime, including the institutions religious of various nominations.”

In the statement, the Jesuits also stand in solidarity “with all the other victims who have suffered such repression and unite with all those who are waiting or demanding that justice be done to them, that what was confiscated be returned, and that the damage caused by the current regime be repaired.” .

For all these reasons, they ask the Nicaraguan dictatorship to “cease the repression, stop committing systematic violations of human rights, release the political prisoners” and “accept the search for a rational solution in which truth, justice prevail. , dialogue, academic freedom and respect for the rule of law.”

The expropriation of the UCA by the Nicaraguan dictatorship

On August 15, 2023, the dictatorship in Nicaragua expropriated all the assets and bank accounts of the Central American University (UCA), after accusing it of “terrorism.”

That day, the Court of the Tenth Criminal Court District of Managua Circumscription, headed by Judge Dr. María Saavedra Corrales, notified “the seizure of real estate, furniture, money in national or foreign currency from frozen bank accounts, financial products in national or foreign currency owned by the UCA”.

Likewise, it was indicated that from that moment on the regime in Nicaragua will be in charge of “all educational programs.”

4 days later, on August 19, the dictatorship’s police and prosecutors evicted six Jesuits from their home in Managua despite presenting evidence of ownership.

“At the beginning of the afternoon of August 19, the Nicaraguan police appeared together with members of the judiciary at the Jesuits’ home, the Villa Carmen residence (next to the Central American University, but owned by the Society of Jesus), to demand their eviction arguing that that home is also property of the State of Nicaragua,” the Jesuits then denounced.

What is the UCA in Nicaragua?

Established in 1960 and linked to the Society of Jesus, the UCA is the first private university in Nicaragua.

It has taught more than 12 generations of professionals and has been the birthplace of figures who have opposed the Somoza dictatorship that remained in the country until 1979.

He also followed the process for the return to democracy in the 1990s and denounced the injustices and repression during the protests in Nicaragua in 2018.