Nicaragua Cancels Legal Status of Moravian Church and 168 Other NGOs

Nicaragua’s Ministry of the Interior has canceled the legal status of the Moravian Church of Nicaragua, according to reports from two outlets that differ in emphasis. Confidencial reported that the church’s legal personality was canceled on August 29, 2024. The church, which reports more than 120,000 members, was granted legal status on July 31, 1964.

The church gave its account of the cancellation in a statement issued by Reverend Michael Dixon, president of the Provincial Board. He said church leaders had met with regional authorities on the Caribbean Coast. According to the statement, the authorities assured the church that its activities would continue without interruption and that its assets would remain untouched.

Confidencial reported that the cancellation followed the church’s failure to submit financial statements to the Ministry of the Interior since 2019. The church said that a statute reform published in August 2019 in the Official Gazette was not widely known at the time. Official records cited in the same report state that the church underwent a statute reform in August 2018, published in La Gaceta. The two dates are reported as stated in the source, and the reports do not reconcile them.

In a letter dated August 31, 2024, the church urged its members across Nicaragua to remain calm and united. Confidencial describes the church as “in revision of its legal situation” following the cancellation.

La Prensa reported the cancellation as part of a broader action. It said the Ministry of the Interior canceled another batch of non-profit organizations, including 80 affiliated with evangelical churches, and that the total number of NGOs dissolved since 2018 had reached 5,664. The list of canceled groups was published in the official newspaper La Gaceta, citing non-compliance with legal regulations. La Prensa reported that the Moravian Church was among 168 other NGOs canceled in this batch. Critics quoted in the report argue that the stated reason is a pretext for the government’s broader campaign to suppress religious and civil society organizations. La Prensa’s headline characterized the action as an effort to exterminate religious expression, a characterization the report attributes to its own framing rather than to any official.

Background in the La Prensa report states that the Moravian Church of Nicaragua was founded by German Moravian missionaries in 1847 and became fully autonomous in 1974. The church has long served indigenous and Afro-descendant communities on Nicaragua’s Caribbean Coast, including the Miskito, Sumu, and Rama peoples. Its work there reflects a concern for protecting the vulnerable (Psalm 82:3).

Anexa Alfred, a member of the UN Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, said last July that the Caribbean Coast has seen severe restrictions on religious freedom. According to La Prensa, Alfred said the church’s presence and mission work continue in communal territories beyond state reach despite its revoked legal status.