The Unjustified Aggression Against the Jesuits Continues in a Context of Total Defenselessness and Terrorization of the Nicaraguan Population

The State of Nicaragua, through the Ministry of the Interior, by means of Ministerial Agreement N.105- 2023 published today, cancelled the legal status of the Association of the Society of Jesus in Nicaragua and established that the Office of the Attorney General of the Republic transfer to the State its real and personal property.

The decision was made without evidence that the administrative procedures established by law had been carried out. As has happened in most of the more than three thousand similar cases of cancellation of legal personality carried out by the regime since 2018, this agreement was carried out neither giving the Jesuits an opportunity for legitimate defense nor engaging in an impartial judicial process to judge and stop these arbitrary abuses of authority. Prior to the publication of Ministerial Agreement No. 105-2023, the Government had already taken away one of the assets of the Society of Jesus Association of Nicaragua: the residence where some of its members lived in Managua. On this occasion, in addition to the occupation of the property, the inhabitants were evicted without giving them a reasonable time to collect and take their personal belongings.

The Central American Province of the Society of Jesus:

1. Condemns this new aggression against the Jesuits of Nicaragua. It considers this decision to be framed in a national context of systematic repression qualified as “crimes against humanity” by the group of experts on Human Rights on Nicaragua formed by the United Nations.

2. Confirms that all this is aimed at the full establishment of a totalitarian regime.

3. Holds the current President and Vice-President of Nicaragua responsible for, at the very least, condoning these events and preventing the existence of conditions of independence and neutrality of the judiciary that would allow it to take measures to stop, reverse and sanction them.

4. Asks the President and Vice-President with immediate effect to:

• Cease the repression.

• Accept the search for a rational solution in which truth, justice, dialogue, respect for human rights and the rule of law prevail.

• Respect the freedom and total integrity of the Jesuits and the people who collaborate with them or with whom they collaborate.

5. Unites with the thousands of Nicaraguan victims who are waiting for justice and reparations for the damage that the current Nicaraguan government is causing. 6. Is grateful for the countless signs of recognition, support and solidarity it has received in the face of these growing outrages.

San Salvador, August 23, 2023.

FR GENERAL EXPRESSES SOLIDARITY WITH THE JESUITS AND THEIR MISSION PARTNERS IN UCA NICARAGUA