Nicaragua's congress bans 4 universities and 6 aid groups

Nicaragua's National Assembly has outlawed four private universities, some linked to the Roman Catholic Church

MANAGUA, Nicaragua -- Nicaragua’s National Assembly, controlled by President Daniel Ortega, outlawed four private universities Wednesday, some linked to the Roman Catholic Church.

The best known of the schools whose legal standing was canceled by the assembly is Polytechnical University of Nicaragua, which was a hotbed of antigovernment protests in 2018.

The measure also affects six aid groups linked to the church and four professional or collegiate associations. One of the professional organizations is the Association of Nicaraguan Songwriters, which was formed by folk musician Luis Enrique Mejía Godoy.

Some of the groups have been critical of Ortega, or in the case of the universities, host to academics or students who are critics of the outlawed entities did not comply with financial reporting requirements. That was the same argument used to ban almost a dozen non-governmental groups last year.