The religious persecution carried out by the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo in Nicaragua has extended to all the most important religious denominations in the country, including the Catholic, Evangelical and Moravian churches, which have suffered all kinds of attacks launched by the regime against faith.
Braulio Abarca, from the Human Rights Collective Nicaragua Never Again, approached by Article 66 On religious persecution in the country, he notes that “unfortunately, the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo continues to exercise religious persecution against the Catholic Church, the Protestant or Evangelical churches and Moravian churches.”
The human rights defender warns that the dictatorship’s objective is “the closure of churches, but also the closure of civil society organizations or associations based on faith.”
Abarca also recalls that the Nicaraguan regime, in its attacks against religious institutions, has closed or outlawed and confiscated universities, schools and educational institutes with a religious, Catholic or evangelical focus.
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«Let us remember that, to date, more than 1,000 faith-based organizations and religious orders have been arbitrarily closed since April 2018, including Caritas of Nicaragua, Caritas of Jinotega, Granada, Matagalpa, among others, as well as religious orders such as the Order of the Missionaries of Charity, the Order of the Franciscan Friars Minor and other faith-based organizations that collaborated with humanitarian aid but also with educational religious training for people in need in the country,» said the human rights activist.
According to the report maintained by the Nicaragua Never Again Collective, taking as a reference the report “Nicaragua: A persecuted church?”, prepared by lawyer Martha Patricia Molina, at least 870 incidents or attacks against the Catholic Church have been recorded since April 2018.
“These attacks have been against the Catholic or Evangelical Church. Let us remember that at least 13 people corresponding to or members of the Puerta de la Montaña church were arbitrarily detained and remained in different prisons until September 5 of this year, when they were released and forcibly transferred to Guatemala,” Abarca said.
Banished priests
He also recalled that more than 150 priests are in exile and at least a third of that number were forcibly transferred to Vatican City or the United States.
“Many of them were imprisoned and were victims of torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and, unfortunately, these acts continue with impunity,” denounces the defender.
Abarca, who works in defense of human rights from exile, analyzes that the dictators Ortega and Murillo are afraid of the freedom that faith can offer, but they also “try to control absolutely everything that has to do with human thought, critical thinking, as well as wanting to take over the faith and the soul of the people.”
Abarca recalled that, until recently, the Moravian Church, whose main activity takes place in the Caribbean Coast regions of Nicaragua, had not suffered any attacks, but their peace ended on August 29 when the Ministry of the Interior of the dictatorship revoked their legal status, that is, made their existence illegal in Nicaragua.
“The Moravian Church, which is the heart of the Miskito people’s beliefs, or of the Miskito population, was recently closed down (outlawed), and unfortunately it has also been left unprotected in Nicaragua. The fundamental rights and freedoms of the population continue to be seriously violated,” said the activist.
In light of these developments, Abarca calls on the international community to continue monitoring the serious violation of human rights, as well as to establish mechanisms to document these violations, as has been done by the UN Group of Experts on Human Rights for Nicaragua (GHREX) or the Follow-up Mechanism for Nicaragua of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).
The Providential Board of the Moravian Church of Nicaragua reported that they met with regional authorities of the Caribbean Coast to “review the legal situation” of the Church following the cancellation of its legal status on August 29, 2024.
Moravian Church is already under attack
Until August 29, the Moravian Church, which is mostly practiced on the Caribbean Coast, was intact, however, that date must be remembered badly by those who practice that religion, because on that day the dictatorship announced that it was being outlawed after more than 175 years of existence in the country.
Despite the dictatorship’s lightning attack, which left them in illegality, the Reverend Michael Dixon, president of the Provincial Board of the Moravian Church of Nicaragua, said in a statement that the Caribbean regional authorities had given them “confidence in the process. And that there is no intention to suspend the activities of their congregations, and that the assets of the Moravian Church will not be confiscated.”
