The Report on Religious Freedom 2023, carried out by the organization Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), places the Nicaraguan regime as the only country in Latin America that entered the international red zone of religious persecution, along with 28 nations.
The biannual report of this pontifical organization was carried out in 162 countries from January 2021 to December 2022. In general terms, the 2023 report underlines that in a third of the countries on the planet religious freedom is not respected, which affects the 62.5% of the world population.
With the exception of Nicaragua, the map of Latin America and the Caribbean does not appear as threatening as the panorama of Africa, the most violent continent due to the expansion of jihadism and in which 13 countries are in the red zone (persecution).
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The report highlights that under the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega and his wife Rosario Murillo, the religious situation of the Catholic Church in Nicaragua has visibly worsened and is increasing.
As always with Cuba and Venezuela
«Nicaragua is the first country in the American continent included in the list of places where the greatest violations of religious freedom are committed in the world. There the situation of this right has worsened visibly. The Catholic Church has suffered harassment and persecution from the government of Daniel Ortega»reveals the study presented internationally on June 22.
«The most significant violations of religious freedom occur in nations with questionable records of respect for human rights and democracy, including Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela.»cites the report.
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«These governments have manifested hostility and aggressiveness towards the Christian Churches (both Catholic and non-Catholic) when their religious leaders have denounced corruption and political and social initiatives that they understand to be detrimental to the common good.».
According to the report, the Nicaraguan dictatorship has used force to prevent religious celebrations, intimidate the faithful with police deployments around churches and processions, threaten religious leaders and the faithful, cancel visas for foreign religious personnel and opacity in the registration process for religious groups.
Since 2018, when the Sandinista dictatorship declared war on the clergy, they have committed the following 10 actions against the Catholic Church
- Freezing of bank accounts for dioceses and priests along with accusations of money laundering.
- Confiscation of assets and resources of the Catholic Church and its organizations, such as universities and schools, land and buildings, offices and welfare centers.
- Expulsion of Catholic religious of all levels, including the Apostolic Nuncio Waldemar Stanislaw Sommertag in 2022.
- Breaking of diplomatic relations with the Vatican and the Holy See.
- Persecution and capture of members of all levels of the clergy, including the kidnapping, trial and sentence to 26 years of pressure for Bishop Rolando Álvarez.
- The exile and banishment of priests and personnel of all levels of the Catholic Church, including Bishop Silvio Báez, whom he expatriated and ordered to confiscate his personal assets.
- Persecution, expulsion, cancellation of permits and assault on properties and charitable centers of various orders of nuns, including the Sisters of the Cross of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Mother Teresa of Calcutta Missionaries of Charity Association, who had asylums confiscated nursing homes, kindergarten, orphan home and medical clinics.
- Hate speech. The dictator Daniel Ortega and his wife Rosario Murillo have deployed all kinds of hate speech and insults against the Nicaraguan Catholic Church and against Pope Francis, calling «mafia» to church and «terrorists» its members, which is why the same pope branded Ortega as «unbalanced».
- Ortega has prevented religious celebrations and intimidated the faithful with police deployments around churches and processions. The repression has reached such a degree that the dictatorship arrested and sentenced the journalist Víctor Ticay for transmitting through social networks the police repression against a Catholic procession in the middle of Holy Week.
- Direct attacks against churches and symbols of Catholicism, such as the shooting attack against the Divine Mercy Church and the attack and fire in the Metropolitan Cathedral of Managua, where they burned the sacred image of the Blessed Sacrament.
