Current:Home > MyNicaraguan government seizes highly regarded university from Jesuits-InfoLens
Nicaraguan government seizes highly regarded university from Jesuits
View Date:2024-12-23 14:37:12
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Nicaragua’s government has confiscated a prestigious Jesuit-run university alleging it was a “center of terrorism,” the college said Wednesday in announcing the latest in a series of actions by authorities against the Catholic Church and opposition figures.
The University of Central America in Nicaragua, which was a hub for 2018 protests against the regime of President Daniel Ortega, called the terrorism accusation unfounded and the seizure a blow to academia in Nicaragua.
The government did not confirm the confiscation or comment on the Jesuits’ statement.
The Jesuit order, known as the Society of Jesus, said the government seized all the university’s property, buildings and bank accounts.
“With this confiscation, the Ortega government has buried freedom of thought in Nicaragua,” said María Asunción Moreno, who was a professor at the university until she was forced into exile in 2021.
The order quoted the government as claiming the university “operated as a center of terrorism.”
“This is a government policy that systematically violates human rights and appears to be aimed at consolidating a totalitarian state,” the Society of Jesus of Central America said in a statement.
The university, known as the UCA, has been one of the region’s most highly regarded colleges It has two large campuses with five auditoriums, engineering laboratories, a business innovation center, a library with more than 160,000 books in Spanish and English, a molecular biology center and facilites for 11 sports. Of the 200,000 university students in Nicaragua, an estimated 8,000 attend UCA.
Founded 63 years ago, UCA also houses the Institute of History of Nicaragua and Central America, which is considered the main documentation and memory center in the country, equipped with its own library, a newspaper library and valuable photographic archives.
Since December 2021, at least 26 Nicaraguan universities have been closed and their assets seized by order of the Ortega government with a similar procedure. Seven of those were foreign institutions.
In April, the Vatican closed its embassy in Nicaragua after the country’s government proposed suspending diplomatic relations.
Two congregations of nuns, including from the Missionaries of Charity order founded by Mother Teresa, were expelled from Nicaragua last year.
The expulsions, closures and confiscations have not just targeted the church. Nicaragua has outlawed or closed more than 3,000 civic groups and non-governmental organizations.
In May, the government ordered the Nicaraguan Red Cross shut down, accusing it of “attacks on peace and stability” during antigovernment demonstrations in 2018. The local Red Cross says it just helped treat injured protesters during the protests.
In June, the government confiscated properties belonging to 222 opposition figures who were forced into exile in February after being imprisoned by Ortega’s regime.
Those taken from prison and forced aboard a flight to the United States on Feb. 9 included seven presidential hopefuls barred from running in the 2021 election, lawyers, rights activists, journalists and former members of the Sandinista guerrilla movement.
Thousands have fled into exile since Nicaraguan security forces violently put down mass antigovernment protests in 2018. Ortega says the protests were an attempted coup with foreign backing, aiming for his overthrow.
veryGood! (5)
Related
- 13 escaped monkeys still on the loose in South Carolina after 30 were recaptured
- Alexandra Park Shares Her Thoughts on Ozempic as a Type 1 Diabetic
- Environmentalists See Nevada Supreme Court Ruling Bringing State’s Water Management ‘Into the 21st Century’
- Hurry! This Best-Selling Air Purifier That's Been All Over TikTok Is On Now Sale
- Artem Chigvintsev Returns to Dancing With the Stars Ballroom Amid Nikki Garcia Divorce
- Boeing declines to give a financial outlook as it focuses on quality and safety
- Stop picking on 49ers' QB Brock Purdy. He takes so much heat for 'absolutely no reason'
- Buying season tickets to go to one game? That’s the Caitlin Clark Effect
- Threat closes Spokane City Hall and cancels council meeting in Washington state
- How U.S. Marshals captured pro cyclist Moriah Mo Wilson's killer
Ranking
- New Orleans marks with parade the 64th anniversary of 4 little girls integrating city schools
- Family says Georgia soldier killed in Jordan drone attack was full of life
- As Dry January ends, what's next? What to know about drinking again—or quitting alcohol for good
- Laser strikes against aircraft including airline planes have surged to a new record, the FAA says
- How Kim Kardashian Navigates “Uncomfortable” Situations With Her 4 Kids
- Super Cute 49ers & Chiefs Merch for Your Big Game Era
- Days of Darkness: How one woman escaped the conspiracy theory trap that has ensnared millions
- Could Aldi be opening near Las Vegas? Proposal shows plans for Nevada's first location.
Recommendation
-
Ryan Reynolds Makes Dream Come True for 9-Year-Old Fan Battling Cancer
-
Travis Kelce Shares Sweet Message for Taylor Swift Ahead of 2024 Grammys
-
Carnival reroutes Red Sea cruises as fighting in the region intensifies
-
Boeing declines to give a financial outlook as it focuses on quality and safety
-
Roy Haynes, Grammy-winning jazz drummer, dies at 99: Reports
-
Whether You're Rooting for the Chiefs or the 49ers, These Red Lipsticks Are Kiss-Proof
-
US worker paycheck growth slowed late last year, pointing to cooling in a very strong job market
-
Mark Zuckerberg, Linda Yaccarino among tech CEOs grilled for failing to protect kids