Central America

Nicaraguan government seizes assets of one of the country’s most prestigious Jesuit universities

Photo: Universidad Centroamericana de Nicaragua

August 17|

The Nicaraguan Justice, controlled by the government presided by Daniel Ortega, ordered the Jesuit Central American University (UCA), one of the most prestigious private study centers in the country, to transfer its movable and immovable assets, as well as its bank accounts, to the State of Nicaragua, the educational institution informed on Wednesday.

The UCA, founded in 1960, confirmed through an email to the educational community and shared with EFE, that on Tuesday, at 17:29 hours (23:29 GMT), they received an official notice from Judge Gloria María Saavedra, head of the Tenth Criminal District Court of Hearings Managua District, notifying them of this and other measures.

In the official notice, the Jesuit university was notified of “the seizure of real estate, furniture, money in national or foreign currency from the immobilized bank accounts, financial products in national or foreign currency property of the UCA”, according to the letter.

The judge also ordered “that the seizure of all the goods described in the previous point be in favor of the State of Nicaragua, which will guarantee the continuity of all educational programs”.

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Likewise, the judge sent notices to the Public Registry of Real Estate and Commercial Property, to the Superintendence of Banks, to the National Directorate of Registries, to the National Police and to the Attorney General’s Office of the Republic, “for the purposes of their charges”.

“The above measures are taken in correspondence to unfounded accusations that the Central American University functioned as a center of terrorism, organizing criminal groups,” explained the university.

“In the face of all this, the UCA reiterates its commitment to Nicaraguan society for a high quality higher education and faithful to its founding principles for 63 years,” it added.

He also thanked “the trust, solidarity and closeness expressed by students, teachers, administrative staff and the Nicaraguan society that identifies with the principles and values of this Alma Mater”.

In view of this official letter, the Jesuit university, whose rector is the priest Rolando Enrique Alvarado López, decided to suspend as of today “all academic and administrative activities, until it is possible to resume them in an ordinary manner, which will be informed through the official communication channels of the University”.

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Last week, Nicaraguan authorities froze the bank accounts of the Jesuit university and immobilized its properties, amidst the friction between the Ortega government and the Nicaraguan Catholic Church.

On the other hand, the Directorate of Alternative Dispute Resolution (Dirac), attached to the Supreme Court of Justice, revoked last Monday the accreditation of the Mediation Center of the UCA, four months after the same entity renewed its accreditation.

In March 2022, Nicaraguan authorities excluded the UCA from the 6% constitutional allocation that universities receive annually.

In September of the same year, UCA Vice Rector Jorge Huete was banned from entering the country after a work trip to Argentina.

Former UCA rector José Alberto Idiáquez, who participated in a dialogue that sought to overcome the crisis Nicaragua has been going through since April 2018, was also unable to return to the country in July 2022, after traveling to Mexico to attend to health problems.

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The Jesuit university was the scene of dozens of marches against the Ortega government, in the context of the crisis that Nicaragua has been going through since April 2018.

Also on May 30, 2018, it opened its doors to thousands of students who sought refuge after participating in a massive opposition march in Managua, called “The mother of all marches”, which ended bathed in blood, just after Ortega sentenced in a speech to his followers that “Nicaragua belongs to all of us and here we all stay”.

It also hosted the exhibition “Ama y no Olvida: Museo de la Memoria contra la Impunidad”, promoted by the Asociación de Madres de Abril (AMA), which seeks to remember those killed during the anti-government demonstrations in Nicaragua.

Nicaragua has been going through a political and social crisis since April 2018, which has been accentuated after the controversial general elections of November 7, 2021, in which Ortega was reelected for a fifth term with his main contenders in prison.

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Central America

Guatemala’s president denounces MP raids during Constitutional Court election

The president of Guatemala, Bernardo Arévalo, on Thursday accused the Ministerio Público (MP) of interfering in the process to select magistrates for the country’s highest court, the Corte de Constitucionalidad (CC).

Arévalo has been locked in an ongoing dispute with Attorney General Consuelo Porras, who has been sanctioned by the United States and the European Union and labeled by critics as “corrupt” and “anti-democratic” after efforts to block the president from taking office two years ago.

Earlier on Thursday, the MP said it was investigating alleged irregularities in the voting process and carried out raids at polling sites set up at Club La Aurora and Parque Erick Barrondo, in Guatemala City, where the Colegio de Abogados y Notarios de Guatemala (CANG) was electing its principal and alternate representatives to the CC.

In posts on X, the president described the operation as a “spurious” action aimed at “interfering” in the election and “intimidating” voters in order to “alter” the outcome.

Voting was temporarily disrupted by the searches, the frisking of the CANG president, and a power outage caused by the explosion of a nearby transformer. Once the process resumed and concluded, the association elected Astrid Jeannette Lemus Rodríguez as one of the five members of the Constitutional Court, with Luis Fernando Bermejo Quiñónez chosen as her alternate.

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“They failed in their attempt to hijack the elections (…). Honest lawyers won,” Arévalo wrote in a subsequent message.

Central America

Guatemala to Phase Out Longstanding Medical Cooperation Agreement with Cuba

Guatemala’s government announced on Tuesday that it will end this year a cooperation agreement with Cuba that has brought doctors from the Caribbean nation to work in the Central American country.

Guatemala’s Health Ministry told EFE that the program, which has been in place for nearly three decades, will be phased out progressively throughout 2026.

According to the same source, there are currently 412 Cubans in Guatemala under the agreement, including 333 physicians.

Cuban medical brigades assigned to Guatemala have traditionally been deployed to various regions of the country to provide primary health care to local communities.

“The decision follows a technical assessment aimed at strengthening the sustainability of the national workforce and consolidating the public health system’s own capacities,” the Guatemalan ministry said.

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Earlier this week, lawmaker Sonia Gutiérrez, from the left-wing Winaq party, warned that the move “could be an inhumane act that threatens the health and lives of the country’s most vulnerable populations,” given the historic importance of Cuban doctors in providing medical care.

For that reason, the legislator summoned Health Ministry authorities to Congress, as permitted by law, to provide further details about the decision.

Former human rights ombudsman Jordán Rodas Andrade also weighed in on social media, recalling that “for 27 years Cuban doctors have been the backbone of health care in Guatemala’s most neglected areas,” and stressing that “ending this agreement is an act of ingratitude that leaves the most vulnerable unprotected.”

President Bernardo Arévalo’s government told EFE that, in order to guarantee continued care, it will implement a gradual replacement plan that includes hiring national personnel.

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Central America

Guatemala isolates Barrio 18 leader after attacks that killed 11 police

Guatemalan authorities have placed a leader of the Barrio 18 gang in an isolated cell without الكهرباء or “privileges” after he was accused of triggering a recent wave of violence that left 11 police officers dead, the government said on Sunday.

Members of Barrio 18, which is designated as a “terrorist” organization by both the United States and Guatemala, carried out the killings on January 18 in retaliation for the government’s takeover of three prisons that had been under the control of inmates linked to the group.

In response to the attacks, President Bernardo Arévalo declared a month-long state of siege, arguing that gang members were seeking better conditions in prison or transfers to lower-security facilities.

In a message posted on X alongside photographs, Arévalo announced the isolation of Aldo Dupie, also known as “El Lobo,” one of the gang leaders who allegedly directed the uprisings.

Images released by the government show Dupie inside a small cell with narrow windows, built from metal containers, in a secured area of the Renovación I prison in southern Guatemala — the same facility where the hostage-taking riot took place.

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With a shaved head and a stern expression, the gang leader appears alone and in handcuffs, according to the photographs.

Guatemala’s prison system said the “new area,” protected by metal fencing and barbed wire, will house high-risk inmates who will remain without privileges or electricity.