NICARAGUA

Students fear further government repression of university
Members of Nicaraguan youth organisations in exile have denounced the repressive actions imposed by the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo against Managua’s Central American University (UCA). Many fear the current de facto restrictions are the prelude to a full confiscation of Central America’s first private centre of higher education, reports Havana Times.This past week – as sources close to the university confirmed to Confidencial – the Ortega dictatorship froze the UCA’s bank accounts and ordered the Public Registry to put a hold on their property. The UCA hasn’t issued any official explanations of the problem, but in an e-mail sent on 10 August, the university recognised that it was facing “an adverse situation”. However, it said despite everything, “they would continue functioning as a house of higher education”.
“We’ve received many indications of the unhappiness, the concern, and above all the unease caused by not knowing what will happen tomorrow. Everything the dictatorship has done up until now generates uncertainty,” stated student leader and banished political prisoner Lesther Aleman, in a press conference on 11 August.
Full report on the Havana Times site