Daniel Ortega (Photo courtesy of Wikicommons Images, Cancilleria Ecuador, CC BY-SA 2.0)The brutal crackdown on Christianity in Nicaragua, and the Catholic Church in particular, by president Daniel Ortega has reached a crisis level as the ruthless dictator continues to oppress any person or organization not under his control.
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom has declared that the religious freedom conditions in Nicaragua are “severely deteriorating.” In their latest press release, they state: “President Daniel Ortega and Vice President Rosario Murillo [his wife] use laws on cybercrimes, financial crimes, legal registration for not-for-profit organizations, and sovereignty and self-determination to persecute religious communities and religious freedom advocates. Nicaragua’s government continues to repress the Catholic Church for its human rights advocacy by arbitrarily arresting, imprisoning, and exiling clergy and laypeople and shuttering and seizing the property of Catholic charitable and educational organizations.”
After a recent election where Ortega and Murillo caused international outrage by arresting and imprisoning their opponents on a variety of trumped-up charges, the couple continues to maintain their hold on power and every aspect of life inside the country. With 90 percent of the country belonging to Christian denominations, and nearly half that number being members of the Catholic Church, the only dissenters left in the country are priests and bishops who bravely speak out against the oppressive regime in their homilies.
In response, the government punishes the Church by cancelling the legal status of Catholic organizations, confiscating their property, and harassing and intimidating worshipers by sending government agents into religious services to frighten clergy and parishioners. The government also banned the public observance of Christian traditions such as street processions during Holy Week and used the state-controlled media to demonize the Catholic Church, referring to it as a “mafia” and calling priests “representatives of the devil.” To further tamp down the voice of the Church, the government forced a closure of Catholic media outlets, which included 11 radio stations and four TV channels.
In the past two years, the government has cancelled the legal status of John Paul II University and Immaculate Conception Catholic University in Managua which served as a formation center for seminarians. They also shuttered the Jesuit-run University of Central America and evicted the Jesuits after baselessly accusing the organization of being involved in terrorism. In many cases the government also confiscated the property of these organizations, as they did to the property belonging to the Company of Franciscan Friars Minor.
Thus far, the Nicaraguan government has resisted international scrutiny of their religious freedom violations by withdrawing from the Organization of American States (OAS), expelling OAS staff from its territory, and refusing to cooperate with the United Nation Group of Human Rights Experts on Nicaragua.
Rosario Murillo, wife of Daniel Ortega and VP of Nicaragua (Photo courtesy of Wikicommons,Tavox13,CC BY-SA 4.0)
As a result, the pogrom against the Church continues and is a centerpiece of the Ortega regime’s goal of subduing dissident voices in the private sector, the media, and the Church. However, Father Rafael Aragon, who lived in Nicaragua during the early days of the Sandinista regime, says the objective goes even deeper
“For Daniel Ortega, but even more for his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, Catholicism is a religion imposed by Europeans, by whites. They want to return to the ancestral religion, the worldview of the indigenous peoples, those before colonization,” he told La Croix International.
Murillo, who is often seen sporting colorful bracelets and rings and long necklaces, is described as looking “like a New Age fortune-teller.” She has reportedly erected “mystical ‘trees of life’” made of metal and frequently talks about spirituality in her daily televised addresses.
Although the Church and the Sandinista regime have a long and complicated history, the corruption of the Ortega government is finally becoming a matter of international concern and consternation due to several high profile cases of abuse against Catholic clergy.
Perhaps no one suffered the outrageous crimes of this corrupt government as much as Monsignor Rolando Alvarez Lagos, bishop of the Diocese of Matagalpa, who was held hostage in the curial house in 2022 by security forces under the specious charges of “organizing violent groups” and “carrying out acts of hate."
According to this article written by Human Rights Campaigner Bianca Jagger for The Independent, he was not permitted to leave the premise, nor were the five priests, two seminarians, and one photographer who were with him at the time of his arrest. They could not leave the house, nor could anyone enter the house, even to bring food, drinks and vital medicine.
“For 15 days, the police held the curial house under siege. Abruptly on 19 August 2022, at around 3.20am, special forces then violently forced their way in to kidnap Monsignor Lagos who was taken in a pick-up truck to an undisclosed location in Managua, whilst the priests, seminarians, laypersons, and photographer were sent to El Chipote prison,” Jagger writes.
The monsignor was eventually given an opportunity to join 222 political prisoners who were exiled to the United States but refused to go because he did not want to abandon the Nicaraguan people. In retaliation for his defiance, “he was then transferred to the infamous La Modelo prison, and during a spurious trial, was held to be a traitor to the country and sentenced to 26 years and 4 months, while also being stripped of his nationality,” Jagger reports.
Thanks to an international outcry and negotiations with the Vatican, Monsignor Lagos, was released and sent to Rome along with two bishops, 15 priests and two seminarians in January of this year. He had spent a total of 527 days in captivity since his kidnap.
As Jagger explains, “For the regime, they see the Church as the country’s last bastion of opposition against their dictatorship. They have focused their violent and relentless attacks on religious leaders because they know how loved and respected they are by the people of Nicaragua. Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo know that these courageous leaders are unflinching in denouncing and condemning the systematic human rights violations perpetrated against the people of Nicaragua.”
While Catholics continue to suffer persecution around the world, let us include in our prayers the brave faithful in the country of Nicaragua whose plight is worsening by the day.
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