On Aug. 15, the Jesuit campus of Universidad Centroamericana (UCA) Nicaragua was seized and closed, forcing more than 2,400 students to continue their studies at sister Jesuit universities in El Salvador or Guatemala. It costs approximately $2,000 per semester for tuition, plus an additional $2,000 for room and board at either UCA El Salvador or Rafael Landivar, Guatemala. This has been an unexpected financial burden for students, many of whom have lost all scholarships and must now pay for room and board where they previously attended from home.
Because the government has frozen several Jesuit bank accounts in Nicaragua, the Jesuit USA Central and Southern Province has created an Emergency Fund to raise money to help UCA students and staff.
The Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities issued a statement signed by leaders of Jesuit institutions, including President Timothy Law Snyder, Ph.D., of Loyola Marymount University, that called on the government of Nicaragua to reverse its actions.
The campus seizure is the latest expression of a repressive Nicaraguan government that, over the past five years, has closed an additional 27 universities in the country, expelled 5,000 non-governmental organizations, and violated human rights, including imprisoning political opponents and representatives of the Catholic Church.
