Facade of the Central American Institute of Business Administration (INCAE) in Managua (Nicaragua). Jorge Torres (EFE)
Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo dealt a new blow to higher education in Nicaragua this Monday with the closure and confiscation of the Central American Institute of Business Administration (INCAE), a prestigious business school where professionals in the field of administration and economics work came to Nicaragua to be founded. The closure sends a message to the private sector that “no one is untouchable,” says Eliseo Núñez, an exiled opponent in Costa Rica, pointing to the direct connection between the business community and INCAE. “It is a way to involve the economic sector and local business people. Also to intimidate the biggest businessmen. This is the regime’s way of saying that it is capable of anything,” says Núñez.
As has been the case since 2018 with thousands of civil society organizations, the Ministry of the Interior (Migob) has revoked the legal status of INCAE through agreement 106-2023-OSFL on the grounds that “it has failed to fulfill its obligations as an organization.” Not submitting financial reports between the years 2020 and 2022. “There were discrepancies in the financial statements for the periods 2015 and 2019; did not comply with legal requirements for receiving donations; and he was not registered as a foreign agent,” the agreement, published Monday in the official newspaper La Gaceta, continued.
The Migob also pointed out that INCAE “has not verified the identity and reputation of its donors and their organizations; has not documented the identity of its background suppliers; did not update all of its information immediately; and information was omitted or incorrect information was provided in the reports submitted to the relevant institutions. The Central American Institute of Business Administration has obstructed the control and supervision of the General Directorate of Registration and Control of Non-Profit Organizations of Migob.”
INCAE Business School is an international business school based in Nicaragua and Costa Rica. It was founded in 1964 by Central American businessmen, former US President John F. Kennedy, and Harvard Business School. It is one of the most renowned study centers in the world for its master’s degrees in business administration, which are completed by eminent businessmen.
Núñez believes that the confiscation of INCAE means the loss of a level of education that will not be achieved again in Nicaragua. “Even if the dictatorship falls tomorrow, it will be extremely difficult for any government to re-establish a graduate school like INCAE due to its level of training and research,” he claims. Last August, the Ortega and Murillo regime confiscated the Central American University (UCA) and established in its place the Casimiro Sotelo National University, which remains dysfunctional to this day due to a lack of students willing to enroll and a lack of budget.
The center regrets the closure
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INCAE noted “with deep sadness” the cancellation and seizure of its assets. But they promised to continue their goal of “changing lives for a better future in Latin America from their campus in Costa Rica.” “Throughout all these decades, Incae has remained faithful to its mission of actively contributing to the sustainable development of Nicaragua and the region,” the study center said.
This Monday morning, the police surrounded the Incae campus in Managua. In addition to serving as a study center, the facilities served as headquarters for the second attempt at dialogue that took place between the regime and the Citizens’ Alliance for Justice and Democracy.
The dialogue took place between February and August 2019 until the regime ended it after failing to accept agreements to end the repression. However, INCAE continued to promote dialogue between sectors, which is why the confiscation is also “a form of revenge,” says Núñez.
Juan Sebastián Chamorro, an economist and exiled political prisoner, said he could already see the shutdown coming. “We see how the dictatorship is taking its toll on this institution because it was the second negotiating table of the National Dialogue and protected the students,” Chamorro said.
Eliseo Núñez adds that it is a strategy that consists of replacing the brute force that Sandinismo used at the beginning of the socio-political crisis in 2018, through the total control of the population through the confiscation of all educational, economic spaces and any to replace social services. “They want the population to have no access to education, training and other services unless through the state,” he analyzes.
Economist Enrique Sáenz adds that the closure of INCAE is another example of “the dictatorship’s contempt for knowledge and education.” “It is a totalitarian desire to control critical thinking,” he said, warning that it sent a “deadly message” to national or international investors about the consequences of resisting the regime. “And it will not only have a negative impact on the private sector, but also on the population in general due to job losses and rising costs of living,” he explained.
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