While the government of Daniel Ortega has given its unconditional support to Russia in the invasion of Ukraine, the Nicaraguan cardinal and leader of the Catholic Church in the country, Leopoldo José Brenes, a witness to the armed conflicts in the 1980s in Nicaragua , condemned what he considers the beginning of a war.
Brenes recalled that he “personally” experienced the 1979 war in Nicaragua, which led to the overthrow of dictator Anastasio Somoza Debayle, as well as the remnants of the armed conflict between the “Contra” and the Sandinista government between 1980 and 1990.
“Because of that war, truly outside the human part, those who think about war is that perhaps they have not experienced pain. So we join the Holy Father who is suffering a lot from this war, that he had been praying, praying that it would not take place, but sometimes the voice of the Church is not heard very well,” said Brenes.
Last week, President Daniel Ortega, who returned to power in 2007 after being head of state in the 1980s, gave his support to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin when he recognized the Donetsk and Luhansk territories as independent republics, before ordering the attack on Ukraine.
The bishop of the diocese of Estelí, Monsignor Rolando Álvarez, also joined the voices of the Catholic leaders who have condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“Do we not want Ukraine to live in peace? What stopped the Russian invasion? the end of the war? Pope Francis has affirmed that Jesus taught us that the diabolical folly of violence is answered with the weapons of God, prayer and fasting,” Álvarez said.
Catholic leaders have also condemned the Nicaraguan government’s actions against the opposition and civil society, which has cost them a serious enmity with the Ortega government.
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