SW News: The Jesuit religious community, a well-known Catholic organization, has had its legal status revoked by the government of Nicaragua, and the nation's interior ministry declared on Wednesday that all of its assets must be seized. The move is the most recent in a series of measures taken by President Daniel Ortega's administration against the Catholic Church in Nicaragua.

According to the ministry's notification published in the official gazette of the government, the religious organization had violated transparency regulations by failing to submit needed financial accounts for the previous three years and by failing to keep its board of directors informed.

An inquiry for comments received from the government and a representative of the religious order received no immediate response.

The government seized a prominent Jesuit-run university in the Central American nation earlier this month, leading to the formal cancellation. The government's crackdown on Catholic clergy and church-affiliated institutions has intensified in recent months.

The 63-year-old Central American University claimed in a letter to the campus community that it had been warned by a criminal court that all of its assets will be given to the government.

The letter stated that the government would guarantee all educational programs but the institution stated that all classes and administrative operations would be suspended without specifying when they would resume.

Regarded as one of Central America's best private universities, it has been falsely accused of being a center for terrorism organized by criminal groups, which it rejects.