MEXICO CITY — Nicaragua’s authorities has confiscated a prestigious Jesuit-run college alleging it was a “center of terrorism,” the faculty mentioned Wednesday in saying the newest in a sequence of actions by authorities in opposition to the Catholic Church and opposition figures.
The University of Central America in Nicaragua, which was a hub for 2018 protests in opposition to the regime of President Daniel Ortega, referred to as the terrorism accusation unfounded and the seizure a blow to academia in Nicaragua.
The authorities didn’t affirm the confiscation or touch upon the Jesuits’ assertion.
The Jesuit order, often known as the Society of Jesus, mentioned it acquired a judicial order Tuesday notifying it of the confiscation. It mentioned the federal government seized all of the college’s property, buildings and financial institution accounts.
“With this confiscation, the Ortega government has buried freedom of thought in Nicaragua,” mentioned María Asunción Moreno, who was a professor on the college till she was pressured into exile in 2021.
The order quoted the federal government as claiming the college “operated as a center of terrorism.”
“This is a government policy that systematically violates human rights and appears to be aimed at consolidating a totalitarian state,” the Society of Jesus of Central America mentioned in an announcement.
Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, Brian A. Nichols, mentioned in a tweet that the seizure of the college “represents further erosion of democratic norms and a stifling of civic space by Ortega-Murillo,” referring to vp and first woman Rosario Murillo.
The college, often known as the UCA, has been one of many area’s most extremely regarded schools It has two giant campuses with 5 auditoriums, engineering laboratories, a enterprise innovation middle, a library with greater than 160,000 books in Spanish and English, a molecular biology middle and facilites for 11 sports. Of the 200,000 college college students in Nicaragua, an estimated 8,000 attend UCA.
Founded 63 years in the past, UCA additionally homes the Institute of History of Nicaragua and Central America, which is taken into account the principle documentation and reminiscence middle within the nation, outfitted with its personal library, a newspaper library and precious photographic archives.
The college’s seizure “represents further erosion of democratic norms and a stifling of civic space by Ortega-Murillo,” U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, Brian A. Nichols, mentioned in a tweet, referring to vp and first woman Rosario Murillo.
Since December 2021, at the least 26 Nicaraguan universities have been closed and their belongings seized by order of the Ortega authorities with the same process. Seven of these have been international establishments.
In April, the Vatican closed its embassy in Nicaragua after the nation’s authorities proposed suspending diplomatic relations.
Two congregations of nuns, together with from the Missionaries of Charity order based by Mother Teresa, have been expelled from Nicaragua final 12 months.
The expulsions, closures and confiscations haven’t simply focused the church. Nicaragua has outlawed or closed greater than 3,000 civic teams and non-governmental organizations.
In May, the federal government ordered the Nicaraguan Red Cross shut down, accusing it of “attacks on peace and stability” throughout antigovernment demonstrations in 2018. The native Red Cross says it simply helped deal with injured protesters in the course of the protests.
In June, the federal government confiscated properties belonging to 222 opposition figures who have been pressured into exile in February after being imprisoned by Ortega’s regime.
Those taken from jail and compelled aboard a flight to the United States on Feb. 9 included seven presidential hopefuls barred from operating within the 2021 election, attorneys, rights activists, journalists and former members of the Sandinista guerrilla motion.
Thousands have fled into exile since Nicaraguan safety forces violently put down mass antigovernment protests in 2018. Ortega says the protests have been an tried coup with international backing, aiming for his overthrow.
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