The National Assembly of Nicaragua has voted to dissolve the local branch of the Red Cross, a nonprofit humanitarian organization, as part of an ongoing clampdown on groups seen as hostile to the government of Daniel Ortega.
The attack on the Red Cross comes amid a widespread push to suppress perceived government critics and other organizations, including the Catholic Church.
As part of Wednesday’s resolution, the Nicaraguan government will seize the Red Cross’s property in the country. It has accused the health care nonprofit of perpetrating “attacks on peace and stability” for its role in anti-government demonstrations in 2018.
Those protests, sparked by changes to Nicaragua’s social security system, quickly grew from a student-led movement to a wider push against Ortega’s administration.
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights estimates that 355 people were killed in clashes with government forces between April 2018 and July 2019. Thousands more were injured, and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimated that more than 100,000 people fled the country within two years.
More than 3,000 groups and nongovernmental organizations have been closed in Nicaragua as part of its crackdown on supposed dissent.
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