The debt of approximately $2 billion that was caused by the confiscation and distribution of assets promoted by Daniel Ortega when he lost the 1990 elections has still not been fully paid off. Yet another similar debt already exists, growing as the value of the properties confiscated since the beginning of the 2018 crisis is determined. Although those affected avoid mentioning specific figures, some of the best-known cases reveal their high value, which together would total around $354 million.
Beyond their historical value and the impact their loss will have on the country’s economic and social development, the confiscation of these properties creates a heavy debt for every Nicaraguan. As happened with the “Piñata” of the 1990s, once democracy is restored, the State will have to pay for all these damages.
Among the educational institutions, due to the high value of its facilities and its impact on young people’s academic formation, the Central American University (UCA) stands out. It belonged to the Jesuit congregation, and its spokesperson, Father José María Tojeira, estimated the value of the campus’s educational infrastructure—covering 14 manzanas (about 24 acres)—at around $25 million.
The plundering of universities
However, the confiscation of the UCA, which this year would have reached 66 years of existence, also included the engineering laboratory located in the same area, valued at around $2 million; a 100-manzana farm located on the Masaya Highway worth $50 million; and farms with experimental centers in León, Jinotega, and Río San Juan. Although Tojeira did not confirm the total value of the losses, it could exceed $100 million.
Also confiscated was the Francisco de Sola campus of the Central American Institute of Business Administration (INCAE). Built on 95 manzanas of land, it included classrooms, administrative buildings, residences housing about 200 students, a cafeteria, dining hall, and extensive equipment. After its confiscation in September 2023, its rector, Enrique Bolaños Abaunza, told Costa Rican newspaper La Nación that the value of what was confiscated exceeded $30 million.
In addition to these two higher education centers, at least thirty other universities have been confiscated. Their total value has not yet been determined, but it will eventually be added to that of UCA and INCAE, whose initial combined estimate already reaches about $130 million.
Confiscations in the business sector
Among business organizations, the most valuable property may be the headquarters of the Superior Council of Private Enterprise (COSEP), located in the Las Colinas residential area in Managua, which was worth about $500,000 at the time of its confiscation in March 2023. Added to this are the properties and land of around fifty trade associations, both in the capital and elsewhere in the country.
Some properties owned by business organizations, such as the Expica Fairgrounds, were valued at over $1 million. These losses are compounded by the personal assets seized from business leaders and entrepreneurs.
A preliminary investigation published in May 2024 by the Pro-Transparency and Anti-Corruption Observatory (OPTA) of Hagamos Democracia estimated that assets confiscated from business organizations, entrepreneurs, and politicians amounted to around $164 million. Among these are properties in San Juan del Sur that were converted into hotels.
These assets include dozens of furnished houses, farms with crops, livestock and equipment, restaurants, beach houses, condominiums, vehicles, and even a small island in Lake Granada with a market value exceeding half a million dollars.
Read also: U.S. Senate Bill Takes Aim at Illegal Gold Networks, Puts Nicaragua Under Sanctions Spotlight
Confiscated media outlets
To that amount would be added the $4 million value of the Guatemalan company Tomza, confiscated in 2021; and an additional estimated $30 to $50 million representing the approximate value of Cisa Exportadora and Mercapital, the two subsidiaries of Mercon Coffee Group that the Ortega-Murillo dictatorship confiscated in December 2023, alleging a supposed $30 million tax debt.
This estimate does not include the recent confiscation of assets belonging to siblings Amelia and Amílcar Ybarra Rojas, shareholders of Agricorp. Nor does it include BHMB Mining Nicaragua, a subsidiary of the U.S.-based BHMB Inc., and its mining operation in Palacagüina, Madriz, estimated at $78.3 million. Nor the estate of the family of Michael Healy (RIP), former president of COSEP, who was imprisoned and later exiled. Nor the Jockey Club of Granada. Nor most of the assets of the 5,441 Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) that, according to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), were shut down by the Ortega-Murillo regime and later had their assets confiscated.
Among the confiscated media outlets, the industrial complex of Editorial LA PRENSA stands out. At the time of its seizure, it was valued at around $20 million, not including the economic or historical value of its newspaper archive.
The complex housed the newsroom, printing press, workshops, commercial printing facilities, warehouses, newspaper archive, and the offices of the sales, circulation, marketing, accounting, and administration departments. To the value of LA PRENSA must be added the properties and equipment of around thirty additional media outlets, most of which have not yet been appraised.
Properties confiscated from the Catholic Church
Another property that stands out for its historical and economic value is the headquarters of the Episcopal Curia of Matagalpa. The two-story building, located in the city center and covering about half a manzana, served as the bishop’s residence and housed several offices. Although its value has not been officially calculated, experts estimate it could be around $1 million.
But this is only one of nearly forty properties that the Ortega-Murillo regime has confiscated from the Catholic Church. These include retreat centers, radio stations, educational centers, convents, and other properties that, according to preliminary estimates, may be worth around $10 million.
As previously mentioned, the value of the assets of the 5,441 confiscated CSOs must also be added to this extensive list. In some cases, such as Operation Smile—which had physical facilities, medical equipment, and mobile clinics—the value runs into several million dollars. And there are thousands more whose value is still unknown but will add to the enormous debt that, for the second time in the country’s history, has been generated by the confiscations promoted by Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo.
