SW News: The Nicaraguan Ministry of the Interior (Migob) formally withdrew the legal status of the Immaculate Conception Catholic University Association of the Archdiocese of Managua (UCICAM) on Thursday, May 18, claiming "voluntary dissolution approved by its members."

UCICAM functioned as a seminary training school in the Central American country. Although the university's legal existence was terminated for unexplained reasons, the Migob agreement states that the school, like the majority of terminated nonprofit organizations, has been in "breach of its commitments" since 2015.

The ministry alleges that UCICAM's "finance records and board of directors" have not been made public since 2020 and that the March 2022 ratification of the General Law of Regulation and Control of Nonprofit Organizations aggravated the problem.

Meanwhile, representatives of organizations whose licenses have been canceled by the Migob have claimed that the institution is preventing them from filing the necessary paperwork. According to the newspaper Confidencial, 30 Nicaraguan NGOs "voluntarily" suspended operations in the first quarter of 2023, and Migob adds that the bulk of these groups were inactive or underfunded.

Based on reports, the members of the institution have the option of maintaining their property and avoiding seizure by shutting down "voluntarily," as occurred with the John Paul II institution, which belonged to the Episcopal Conference of Nicaragua.

Nonetheless, if a company is dissolved for breaching the law, the Office of the Attorney-General of the Republic will transfer all of its property, both physical and intangible, into the name of the State of Nicaragua. When a non-governmental organization (NGO) is voluntarily dissolved, the same thing may happen if the basic act and laws do not define asset location.

According to the study "Nicaragua: A Persecuted Church?", the Ortega government committed at least 529 offenses against the Catholic Church in the preceding five years. In accordance with the study, the government has taken over seven Church institutions since February, sacked 32 nuns, shuttered media outlets, and unfairly imprisoned Bishop Rolando Alvarez of Matagalpa after sentencing him to 26 years in prison on trumped-up charges.