The Nicaraguan Academy of the Spanish Language founded in 1928, equivalent to the French Academy, is accused, like the other associations targeted, of not having complied with the law on “foreign agents” of 2020.
The Central American country, which has been in the throes of a political crisis since 2018, saw its parliament vote on Tuesday to dissolve the Academy of the Spanish Language, affiliated to the Spanish Royal Academy and almost a century old, as well as 82 other NGOs or associations accused of violating the law on “foreign agents”. The Parliament, dominated by supporters of the government of President Daniel Ortega, voted, without debate, by 75 votes of the 91 deputies, the abolition of the legal personality of these associations, at the request of the government.
The Nicaraguan Academy of the Spanish Language founded in 1928, equivalent to the French Academy, is accused, like the other associations targeted, of not having complied with the law on “foreign agents” of 2020 which imposes on any person or entity receiving funds from outside countries to register with the Ministry of Interior.
This law also provides for a meticulous control of accounts and the suppression of civil and political rights. According to the Ministry of the Interior, the dissolved NGOs “have violated and failed to meet their obligations” legal and have “obstructs control and surveillance” to which they are bound by the “foreign agents” law.
“It is a barbaric idea to confiscate research, work on language”
Sergio Ramírez
Among the members of the Academy are notably Sergio Ramirez, writer and ex-vice-president of the Sandinista government after the fall of the dictator Anastasio Somoza. The academic told AFP of his “stupefaction” in front of what he described as “cultural barbarism”. “It is a barbaric idea to confiscate research, work on language”he said.
Mr. Ramirez, who has been living in exile since 2021 for escaping an arrest warrant, claimed to have received messages from academies across the continent following the disbandment which he says has “raised a wave of amazement and reprobation”. “The Nicaraguan Academy of the Spanish Language (ANL) deeply regrets the cancellation of the legal personality of an institution dedicated to the study of the language and culture of Nicaraguan literature”, the organization said in a statement. Its dissolution hinders “the functioning of an institution, whose work has contributed to the enhancement of the most precious cultural asset: the language”.
Nearly 200 entities (NGOs, associations, humanitarian organizations, etc.) have to date been dissolved by the Nicaraguan authorities since the crisis opened in 2018 by the demonstrations against the government of Daniel Ortega. The opposition was bloodily repressed with a death toll of at least 355, tens of thousands exiled and hundreds of imprisonment, according to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).
The government accuses the dissolved NGOs of receiving funds from abroad to foment a coup with the support of the United States. Daniel Ortega, a 76-year-old ex-Sandinista guerrilla was elected in November 2021 for a fourth consecutive term in a ballot from which all his potential opponents were absent, these having been arrested or forced to leave. ‘exile.