Daniel Ortega, president of Nicaragua, on October 19 enacted the Law Regulating Foreign Agents, which seeks to limit the action of organizations that receive international funding. The regulation requires all entities, foundations and associations that receive funds from abroad to register as “foreign agents”. 

Each time they receive an offer of funds from abroad, the organizations must inform the Ministry of the Interior for which activities they will be used and otherwise adhere to the new law in terms of grant related expenditure, payments and contracts. Donations from foreign sources may not be used in activities that have not been previously declared and registered at a web portal to be created for that purpose. In case of non-compliance, the Ministry may impose fines or remove the organizations’ legal status. Since 2018, the Nicaraguan government has revoked the legal status of 10 civil society organizations in breach of due process. 

The regulation, which is already in effect, had been presented on September 22 by the 70 deputies who make up the ruling party Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional (FSLN), and passed on October 14 by the National Assembly.