The Central American University in Managua released this press statement yesterday July 31, 2018 announcing the suspension of most of their activities for the month of August. Nearly half of its budget in recent years, much of it used for scholarships for low income students, has come from state funding . By constitutional mandate dating back to the 1950s the government is obliged to dedicate 6% of its total budget to higher education. The CNU (National University Council) is responsible for its distribution. From the beginning of the crisis in April the UCA has protected students and the population from attacks by pro-government supporters and paramilitaries. Nearly 5,000 people took refuge in the UCA after the massive demonstration on Mother´s Day was fired on by snipers (see earlier posting of interview of President of the UCA Fr. Idiáquez)
UCA
CENTRAL AMERICAN UNIVERSITY
SUSPENSION OF WORK FOR THE MONTH OF AUGUST
Dear Collaborators of the UCA:
Given the serious situation that we are experiencing in the country, our University is going through a very difficult moment. The UCA has seen itself forced to suspend all its academic programs and most of the services that it offers to the public, which constitute sources for the generation of income for the funds of the University. In addition, there have been delays in the transfers of state funds assigned to the UCA. The CNU (National University Council) has informed us that this is due to problems of liquidity of the Ministry of the Treasury and Public Credit. In spite of all the difficulties, the University has made the maximum efforts to ensure the salary of all the staff.
The conditions described prevent the University from being able to continue dealing adequately with all its operational costs. In light of this, it is urgent to take some additional measures of austerity and cost reduction, until the current situation is overcome. In this sense, a temporary cancelation is needed to be done of the activities that are still underway, which implies the suspension for the month of August of labor contracts of an important part of our collaborators.
The figure of Suspension is the temporary interruption of the execution of the labor contract and does not terminate the established legal relationship (Art. 35 Labor Code). The Collective Suspension of Work due to Force Majeure [forces beyond our control], contemplated in the Labor Code (Art. 38) is the option that allows the labor relationship to not be cancelled and is a form of ensuring the work position of each one of our collaborators. The people affected by this measure will be notified individually be the Human Resource Office.
The University is grateful for the understanding of everyone given the complex situation that we are experiencing.
July 31, 2018
[The UCA used the funds from the CNU to provide scholarships to low income students. In response to this news, the Jesuit Universities in the US started a scholarship fund for the UCA to try to maintain those scholarships.