How far will the dictatorship go against the churches in Nicaragua?

In recent days, Nicaragua has once again made international news due to a renewed wave of repression against religious freedom, expressed through the imprisonment and banishment of priests to the Vatican, and the legal cancellation of Catholic and evangelical associations.

The world’s main news agencies and Catholic portals, including those of the Holy See, published about the most recent attacks perpetrated by the Ortega Murillo regime.

What is not new is the attack against religion and freedom of worship regardless of whether the Church is Catholic, Evangelical, or Moravian. All are mercilessly attacked.

In the first stage of the FSLN regime in the 1980s, the Church suffered attacks by the revolutionary government through imprisonment, public accusations, banishment of priests, and displacement of communities, among others.

In the second period, which began in 2007, Daniel Ortega initially wanted a less contentious relationship with the Catholic Church. Despite this, through the Episcopal Conference of Nicaragua (CEN), the Catholic hierarchy maintained a public position consistent with the situation of the Nicaraguan people and their demands for the erosion of democratic institutions.

Now the norm is religious and secular leaders imprisoned, isolated, or banished, the pope’s representative expelled, religious associations canceled, religious media shut down and confiscated, mass celebrations outside temples prohibited, movable and immovable property expropriated, police presence in activities limiting freedom of worship, and religious leaders under permanent surveillance, threats, and blackmail.

Division and repression are the two sides of the coin that the regime has presented since the beginning of the socio-political crisis in 2018. A few Catholic and evangelical leaders, operate under its guidelines while the rest, the majority, face dramatic repression.

The dilemma is, to keep silent for those who remain in the country, or to speak out on behalf of the persecuted, knowing that there will be consequences. In other words, those who do not surrender have to keep quiet or pay the consequences. There is no room for maneuvering, they are hostages of the dictatorship just like the rest of the Nicaraguan people.

As a result of the above, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), designated the Ortega Murillo dictatorship within the category of Countries of Special Concern, which means that it commits systematic, continuous, and egregious violations against the right to freedom of religion or belief. Nicaragua now joins China, Russia, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, and others on the list of 17 countries that violate religious freedom.

Religious freedom was dismantled along with freedom of expression, freedom of organization, freedom of association, and university autonomy. This happened before the eyes of the international community at no great cost to the violators.

In this context, it is worth asking: How far will the systematic violation of the Ortega Murillo family against the Churches and freedoms, including religious freedom, go? How far will the international community allow it to go? This is based on the understanding that Nicaragua is not a democratic regime, but a dictatorship and must be treated as such.

As the USCIRF report suggests, to exert the necessary pressure to stop these abuses, a joint effort must be made between countries and organizations, accompanied by sanctions on individuals and government agencies that violate these rights.

In the Nicaraguan Democratic Concertation (CDN), we are aware that this is not the time for statements, but silence is not the solution either, because in the long term, the cost will be greater. Latin America is at risk if the dictatorships in Nicaragua and Venezuela are allowed to continue to consolidate. It is time for the international community to act to preserve not only religious freedom but democracy throughout the region.