“We demand the immediate lifting of the freezing of the bank accounts of the UCA and of all affected members,” the student organizations stated.
The group of 222 Nicaraguans who were deported to the United States by the dictatorship in February has also spoken out. In an Aug. 10 statement posted on X, this community described the government’s action as “arbitrary and illegal.”
“We denounce this new violation of article 125 of the Political Constitution of the Republic of Nicaragua, which enshrines the protection of the rights of university educational communities and other centers of higher technical education.”
Likewise, the critics affirmed that this measure against the UCA is part of a process of undermining the independence of the universities, which has been underway since 2007 under the Ortega government and “which intensified beginning in 2018 with the confiscation of private universities.”
Felix Maradiaga, a former Nicaraguan political prisoner and former presidential candidate, said in an X video message that “independent educational institutions have been the main threats to the prevailing tyrannies in every era” and that “is the reason why the Ortega-Murillo dictatorship has launched an attack against the UCA.”
Another pronouncement came from the Monteverde Process, a political opposition group whose members fled the country or were forcefully exiled. In an Aug. 9 press release posted on X, they expressed their solidarity with the UCA and denounced the “government repression.”
The group described the banking and real estate freeze as “revenge for the university’s commitment to denounce the murders perpetrated by the regime since 2018, as well as for its courageous work in the defense of human rights and its contribution in the search for a peaceful and democratic solution in the face of repression and the political conflict that Nicaragua has been experiencing for more than five years.”
Likewise, its members recalled that the repression “against the UCA has been manifested since 2007, with the progressive reduction of the budget which by a regulation in the constitution, the universities in Nicaragua must receive.”
“The repression against education, culture, and critical thinking in Nicaragua has been reflected in the cancellation of more than 30 universities by the Ortega and Murillo dictatorship until the present year 2023,” they charged.
About the Central American University
Established in 1960 by the Society of Jesus, the UCA is the first private university in Nicaragua. Throughout its history, it has taught more than 12 generations of professionals and was home to opposition to the dynastic Somoza dictatorship until the dictatorship’s demise in 1979. It also contributed to the process of returning to democracy in the 1990s and denounced the injustices and repression during the anti-government protests in Nicaragua in 2018, in which at least 300 people lost their lives.
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This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.
Diego Lopez Marina has a degree in Communication Sciences with a specialization in journalism from the University of San Martín de Porres (Peru). He began his professional career in 2015, as an editor for the Journalistic Archive area of the Diario El Comercio. In 2016 he began working as an writer for ACI Prensa and since 2018 he has been working as a web editor.