US will not renew legal status for hundreds of thousands of migrants
Washington DC, US Reuters The Biden administration will not renew a temporary humanitarian entry program for hundreds of thousands of migrants with US sponsors who arrived in recent years, the US Department of Homeland Security said on Friday. Some 530,000 migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela have entered the US by air since October, […]
Christians in Nicaragua: Their churches no longer feel safe. Now Nicaraguans are taking their worship home
MARÍA TERESA HERNÁNDEZ, of Associated Press, reports on the pressure being put on churches in Nicaragua…
Essay: Continuing crackdown on churches and NGOs moves Nicaragua further from democracy to authoritarianism
RICHARD WOOD, in an article first published on The Conversation, looks at the background to and impact of Daniel Ortega’s long-running crackdown on civil society, including religious groups…
Nicaragua strips 135 expelled prisoners of nationality, seizes property
Reuters Nicaragua’s government said on Tuesday it had stripped the nationality of 135 Nicaraguans who were released from prison last week and then deported to Guatemala, and ordered the confiscation of their property. The Central American nation’s Supreme Court said the people had been convicted of crimes related to attacks on the “sovereignty, independence and […]
After US talks, Nicaragua expels dozens of political prisoners to Guatemala
Washington DC, US/Guatemala City, Guatemala Reuters The United States secured the release of dozens of political prisoners in Nicaragua on Thursday following talks with the government of President Daniel Ortega, who has in recent years often expelled individuals who he sees as hostile to his rule. The White House announced that 135 prisoners were freed […]
UN details Nicaragua government’s intensifying violent crackdown on rights
Mexico City Reuters A report from the United Nations released on Tuesday detailed alleged crimes committed by the government of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, including an intensifying crackdown on dissent enforced with a new wave of arbitrary arrests and torture. Based on 120 interviews with what the UN human rights office describes as victims and […]
Nicaragua shutters another 169 civil society groups as purge intensifies
Reuters Nicaragua’s government has banned 169 non-governmental organisations for allegedly not complying with sector regulations, according to a resolution published on Thursday in the government gazette. The organisations included Save The Children Canada, religious groups, livestock and agricultural associations, and foundations fighting diseases such as cancer and HIV/AIDS. The move represents a further blow to […]
In latest purge, Nicaragua outlaws 1,500 civil society groups
Reuters Nicaragua’s government outlawed 1,500 non-governmental organisations on Monday, in its latest ban of groups it accuses of breaking the law, part of a longstanding crackdown on civil society groups viewed as hostile by President Daniel Ortega. The move, published in the official government gazette, also involves the confiscation of assets belonging to the mostly […]
Nicaragua shutters Catholic radio formerly run by prominent critic
Reuters Nicaragua’s government decreed on Tuesday the closure and seizure of assets of Radio Maria, the station formerly run by Bishop Rolando Alvarez, a prominent government critic now in exile at the Vatican. Radio Maria was one of Nicaragua’s few remaining media controlled by the Catholic Church, which has seen authorities seize many of its […]
Nicaragua accused of violations “tantamount to crimes against humanity” by UN experts
San Jose, Costa Rica Reuters Nicaragua’s government committed human rights violations that amount to “crimes against humanity”, a United Nations-appointed team of human rights experts said in a report on Thursday. The report called for President Daniel Ortega and his wife and Vice President, Rosario Murillo, to be “held accountable by the international community” for […]