Wednesday 15 October 2008, San José, Costa
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Sandinista Crackdown To
'Clean Up' Political
Funding
By
Rory Carroll
NICARAGUA - The
Sandinista government
has launched a sweeping
crackdown on
non-governmental
organizations, including
Oxfam, prompting
concerns about freedom
of speech and democratic
rights.
Police raided the
offices of two pressure
groups, carting away
computers and files, and
a further 15
organizations are under
investigation for
alleged money-laundering
and subversion.
Critics condemned the
move as a further sign
of intolerance and
authoritarianism by
President Daniel Ortega,
the Sandinista leader
who was feted as a hero
in the country's 1980s
revolution.
Several European
governments are
preparing to axe tens of
millions of dollars in
aid in protest, a sign
of how much
international support
Ortega has lost since
his return to power last
year. "It's a response
to the deteriorating
democratic environment,"
said one diplomat in the
capital, Managua.
Last month the
government launched
Operation No More Lies
against NGOs it accused
of embezzlement,
money-laundering and
subversion. Their
promotion of human
rights, gender equality
and poverty reduction
were "modern-day trojan
horses" and a rightwing
plot to destabilize the
administration, it said.
The interior ministry
followed up with an
inquiry into 17 groups,
including Oxfam GB, the
British branch of the
aid agency. It is one of
the biggest NGOs in
Nicaragua and runs
several programs as well
as distributing donor
funds to local NGOs.
A judicial order to
confiscate documents and
equipment, which the
Guardian has seen, names
Oxfam as one of the
groups to be raided. The
agency pre-empted the
raid by handing over
material before police
broke in.
"We are surprised and
concerned by the
allegations that have
appeared in the media
about Oxfam's operations
in Nicaragua," said
Barbara Stocking, the
group's chief executive.
"For over 30 years we
have respected
Nicaraguan law, and
carried out our work to
overcome poverty and
suffering in a
transparent, accountable
and non-partisan way."
Oxfam would cooperate
with any investigation,
she added.
Privately, officials
from several other aid
agencies questioned
whether they could work
in the western
hemisphere's
second-poorest country
after Haiti.
The government has
defended its actions as
a lawful attempt to
control murky funding
for opposition-linked
local NGOs. Officials
did not return calls.
Ortega paved his return
to power by endorsing a
ban on abortion, which
appeased the Catholic
church, and neutralizing
conservative foes with a
pact.
Some of his most vocal
critics have been former
supporters who accused
him of betraying
Sandinista principles, a
chorus which swelled as
the president clashed
with writers, poets and
artists who had
championed the movement
during its war against
US-backed Contra rebels.
Violent attacks by
pro-government
supporters on recent
opposition rallies have
further dented the
president's image.
The focus of the
crackdown is the Centre
of Media Investigations
(Cinco) and its head,
Carlos Fernando
Chamorro, a high-profile
journalist and son of a
former president,
Violeta Chamorro. His
investigations into
alleged corruption in
Sandinista land deals
infuriated the
government.
The other group raided
was the Autonomous
Movement for Women (Mam),
which has criticized the
treatment of women.
"The administrative and
judicial harassment of
Cinco and Mam is an
outrage," said the
Paris-based Reporters
Without Borders. Courts
were being used to
settle scores and attack
civil society, it said.
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