The Nicaraguan government “intensified its campaign against the Catholic Church,” the report concludes. report of Religious Freedom 2022 of the United States government, released on Monday and which annually reviews the situation experienced by believers in more than 200 countries in the world.
According to the report, although Nicaragua’s political constitution prohibits discrimination based on religion, “throughout the year, President Daniel Ortega and Vice President Rosario Murillo ordered the arrest, exile, and verbal attacks against priests and bishops, calling them criminals and coup plotters”.
also stands out the arrest of Bishop Rolando Álvarez, arrested on August 19 of last year along with five members of the clergy and a layman. He also mentions that at least 55 Nicaraguan priests have been forced into exile and that both the clergy and the Catholic faithful continued to suffer government harassment, “including slander and arbitrary investigations.”
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in this regard that human rights defenders are sounding the alarm about the attacks on the Catholic Church by the Ortega-Murillo regime in Nicaragua.
“One of those unjustly detained was Rolando Álvarez, a bishop who criticized the regime’s repression of civil and religious liberties and who was immediately labeled a ‘traitor to the homeland’ and sentenced to 26 years jail”, indicated Blinken during the presentation of the report at a press conference.
Likewise, the head of the US foreign ministry highlighted an investigation carried out by lawyer Martha Patricia Molina, in which she exposed more than 160 attacks against the church and its members in 2022, from desecrations to arbitrary arrests.
Suspended religious activities and espionage in temples
The report details that in Nicaragua during religious services in the temples, actors in favor of the Ortega government “attended to monitor the sermons, preventing some services from being carried out due to intimidation.”
Also that operation was canceled of the Missionaries of Charity founded by Mother Teresa of Calcutta.
In the same way, the prohibitions of religious celebrations are detailed. “Several Catholic parishes reported that they did not celebrate the traditional pilgrimages of local patron saints and other religious processions in their communities because the authorities did not grant them the necessary permits to use public streets,” the report said.
For example, in August, police cited “internal security” as a justification for deny authorization of a procession in Managua in honor of Our Lady of Fatima.
Advances in other countries
According to the 2022 report, the past year has seen “real progress in some parts of the world in expanding religious freedom as people demand their rights.”
Lawmakers in Brazil, for example, codified religious freedom guarantees for indigenous Afro-Brazilian communities at the municipal and state levels across the country. They also passed legislation making it a crime to carry out discriminatory acts against any religious practice.
Canada and the European Union created new offices to combat Islamophobia, while Croatia appointed its first special adviser to combat anti-Semitism.
And more generally, civil society and other concerned governments around the world have secured the release of many people detained, even imprisoned, for exercising their freedom of religion or belief.
According to Secretary Blinken, “Unfortunately, the report also documents the continuation and, in some cases, the increase of very concerning trends.”
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