In a statement, the Nicaraguan University Alliance (AUN) “roundly” condemned the confiscation by “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,” the statement said.
Despite the official confirmation in La Gaceta on Wednesday, the government had already begun to confiscate the property of the religious order days before.
On Aug. 15 it expropriated the Central American University (UCA) and its assets and on Aug. 19, the dictatorship seized without justification the residence of the Jesuits in Villa Carmen, which is located next to the UCA but is owned by the order, not the university.
“The 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,” the AUN charged.
The organization pointed out 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 in action against this outrage by the Sandinista dictatorship,” the message concluded.
The Central American Province of the Society of Jesus called on Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, to “cease the repression” in the country following the cancellation of their legal personhood and the transfer of all its property and real estate to the state.
In an Aug. 23 statement posted on X, the religious order said it “condemns this new aggression against the Nicaraguan Jesuits,” which takes place “in a national context of systematic repression classified as ‘crimes against humanity’ by the group of human rights experts on Nicaragua formed by the United Nations.”
The province urged the presidential couple to “cease the repression” and “accept the search for a rational solution in which truth, justice, dialogue, respect for human rights, and the rule of law prevail.”