In the light of government shut down of several universities, and the statement by a Sandinista deputy stating the UCA was not in compliance with the Ministry of the interior´s (MIGOB) requirements, the UCA released a press statement addressing concerns about its compliance with governmental requirements. A common tactic of MIGOB in dealing with NGOs that it prefers to shut down has been to refuse to receive the financial statements they are required to provide MIGOB. This seems to have been applied as well in the case of the recently shuttered universities, and what this statement by the UCA seems to infer as well, in the case they also end up being shut down by the government.
In La Prensa, Feb 9, 2022
Without mentioning the situation that the university sector in Nicaragua is experiencing in recent days, nor the attacks against it by a deputy of the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo, the Central American University (UCA) this Wednesday circulated a press release within its community, where it expressed that it is “an institution committed to compliance with the national laws and dispositions” concerning its “nature as a civil association of higher learning.”
In addition, it stated that it has as a principle “transparency in its management.”
This past Monday the Ortega deputy Wilfredo Navarro stated that the UCA is not up to date with their reports to the Ministry of the Interior (MIGOB), and that the entity has been given enough extensions.
But the declarations of the controversial legislator happened in a difficult context for the university sector. Specifically, the regime of Daniel Ortega has stripped six private universities of their legal status and installations, and in addition has changed their names and moved them under the control of the National University Council (CNU).
“The UCA, which is a center for terrorism, even currently, is a center for the promotion of violence and disinformation, is not up to date with the Ministry of the Interior, has not met their requirements, but they have been given an extension four times,” stated Navarro.
According to other communications media, among the university students of this alma mater there reigns a form of uncertainty about whether the regime will attack the UCA, an institution founded in Nicaragua by the Society of Jesus in 1960. In an article published on February 6 by Confidencial, several students stated that after the legal status of the Polytechnical University of Nicaragua was cancelled, they feared that the UCA would also be affected.
In its message, directed at their community this Wednesday, the UCA indicated that they have been in existence for 60 years and that “in its heart it has built a university community that shares the mission of contributing to the construction of a just, critical, inclusive society committed to the common good, through the articulation of quality formation, research and social outreach in collaboration with national and international actors.”
The UCA stated that it has always publicized through different means the activities that it carries out and the agreements and collaborations that it establishes. “As we have always done, we make available to the national authorities empowered by law all the required information, in a timely fashion, for the review and oversight of our work, in accordance with the legal framework of the country,” it indicated.
[The translation of that press release follows]
