Nicaraguan Evangelical Alliance caught up in crackdown on organisations

The Nicaraguan Evangelical Alliance is certainly one of the most recent Christian organisations to be affected by the cancellation of their legal status. 

Some 1,651 organisations had their legal status withdrawn by the Nicaraguan government earlier in August. This was then followed by one other 169 in the previous couple of days of the month. 

Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) said that the affected organisations include dozens of Protestant churches and the Latino-Islamic Cultural Association. 

It brings the whole variety of organisations which have lost their legal status since 2018 to five,552. Many of them are churches or affiliated with churches. They include major institutions just like the Episcopal Church of Nicaragua and the Moravian Church of Nicaragua, which have had a presence within the country for hundreds of years.

CSW’s head of advocacy Anna Lee Stangl said the cancellation of legal status was “arbitrary” and had left members with no place to assemble. 

Stangl was especially concerned about children who were served by church-affiliated schools and hospitals. 

“Many of the affected associations form a key a part of the social fabric and culture of their locales. We proceed to face in solidarity with those that have dedicated their lives to the advance of their communities only to see all of it arbitrarily taken away by a totalitarian government interested only in its own survival,” she said. 

She said that the actions of the Nicaraguan government have to be condemned by the international community.

“Once again CSW strongly condemns the Nicaraguan government’s arbitrary cancellation of the legal status of one other 169 independent civil society organisations. We call on the international community to do the identical,” she said. 

Another affected Christian institution is the First Baptist Church of Managua, which was founded within the Nicaraguan capital in 1917, and which operated schools, a seminary, a hospital, and a radio station.

The Shalom First Presbyterian Church of Nicaragua, the Gospel Eternal Message of the Three Angels Adventist Church, and the Christian Reformed Church of Nicaragua have all lost their legal status. 

Vatican News reports that the “repressive measures” have been used to focus on the Catholic Church and its affiliated organisations. 

“In general, these organizations are accused of failing to supply transparent financial reports and of diverting funds to undermine the Sandinista regime,” it reports.

“From now on, in the event that they want to proceed operating, they’ll have to achieve this in close collaboration with state and governmental bodies.”